ASSINIBOINE WAERIOR. 
(After Maximilian.) 



North American 
Indians of the Plains 



By CLARK WISSLER 

CUKATOE OF ANTHROPOLOGY 




HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 1 



NEW YORK 

American Museum of Natural 
1912 



History 




Plan of the Plains Indian Hall. 

The Museum exhibits for the various tribes are arranged in approxi- 
mate geographical order, beginning with the Plains-Cree of the north 
and proceeding with the typical nomadic tribes (p. 17). In the north- 
western part of the hall are the Shoshone, Ute, and Nez Perce, whose 
culture is intermediate between that of the Plains and Plateau Area. 
In the northeastern section are the Mandan, Hidatsa, and other village 
tribes, also manifesting an intermediate culture between the Plains 
and that of the Woodlands to the east. 

The Woodland hall to the east and the Southwest hall to the north, 
are so arranged as to bring the intermediate trtb*es of each region near 
the entrance to the Plains Indian hall. Thus, from case to case, one 
may follow changes in culture from the Atlantic Coast to the Colorado 
River and the Gulf of California. 

In addition to the specimens, the greater part of the famous Mills 
collection of Catlin paintings will be found in this hall. The pictures 
were painted by George Catlin who in 1832-40 visited most of the 
tribes of this area. 



PREFACE. 



This little book is not merely a guide to museum 
collections from the Plains Indians, but a summary of 
the facts and interpretations making up the anthro- 
pology of those Indians. The specimens in this 
Museum were, for the most part, systematically col- 
lected by members of the scientific staff while sojourning 
among the several tribes. They were selected to 
illustrate various points in tribal life and customs, or 
culture. The exhibits in the Plains Hall contain, as 
far as space permits, most of the typical objects for 
each tribe; yet, it has been physically impossible to 
show everything the Museum possesses. So the most 
characteristic objects for each tribe have been selected 
and care taken to have the other objects common to 
many tribes appear at least once in some part of the 
hall. The ideal way would be to get every variety of 
every object used by each subdivision of a tribe and 
exhibit all of them in their entirety; but few collections 
can be made so complete, and even if they could, space 
in the building could n@t be found for them. The 
exhibits, then, should be taken as material indices, or 
marks, of tribal cultures and not as complete exposi- 
tions of them. This handbook, on the other hand, 
deals with the main points in the anthropology of the 



6 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Plains Indians many of which (as marriage, social and 
political organization, language, etc.) cannot be de- 
monstrated by collections. The statements in the 
text are made upon the authority of the many special 
students of these Indians in whose writings will be 
found far more complete accounts. Citations to the 
more important works will be given in the bibliography. 
The illustrations are chiefly from the anthropological 
publications of the Museum and for the most part 
represent specimens on exhibition in the Plains HalL 
For a mere general view of the subject, the legends to 
the maps, the introduction, and the concluding chapter 
are recommended. The intervening topics may then 
be taken up as guides to the study of collections or the 
perusal of the special literature. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface 5 

Introduction 15 

CHAPTER I. 

Material Culture 19 



Food; Buffalo Hunting, Hunting Implements, Pemmican, 
and Agriculture. Transportation. Shelter; The Tipi, and 
Earth Lodge. Dress. Industrial Arts; Fire-Making, Tex- 
tiles and Skins, Tailoring, The Use of Rawhide, The Par- 
fleche, Rawhide Bags, Soft Bags, Household Utensils, Tools, 
Digging Stick, Pipes, Weapons, and Games. 



CHAPTER II. 

Social Organization 82 

The Camp Circle. Marriage. Government. Soldier 
Bands or Societies. Social Distinction. 

CHAPTER III. 

Religion and Ceremonies " 97 



Mythology. Religious Concepts. A Supernatural Helper. 
Medicine Bundles. Tribal Ceremonies; The Sun Dance, 
Ghost Dance Ceremonies, Peyote Worship, Dancing Asso- 
ciations, War and Scalp Dances. Ceremonial Procedure. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Decorative and Religious Art 120 

CHAPTER V. 

Language 127 

CHAPTER VI. 

Physical Type 135 

CHAPTER VII. 

Origins 138 

Bibliography 143 

Index 14& 

7 



8 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 



Plan of the Plains Indian Hall 3 

Culture Areas in North America H 

The Indians of the Plains Facing 12 

Map showing the Distribution of the Buffalo about 1800 ... 13 
The Distribution of Forests in Western United States .... 14 
Sinewed-backed Bow and Quiver from the Blackfoot and a Com- 
pound Bow of Mountain Sheep Horn from the Xez Perce . . 24 

Lance with Obsidian Point. Xez Perce 25 

Meat Drying Rack. Blackfoot 26 

Stone-headed Pounders 27 

Blackfoot Travois 30 

Assiniboine Dog Travois 31 

Crossing the Missouri in a Bull-Boat 33 

Setting up a Crow Tipi 37 

Hidatsa Village in 1868 . , 39 

One-piece Moccasin Pattern 42 

Two-piece Moccasin Pattern 43 

Man's Shirt. Blackfoot 45 

Costumed Figure of a Dakota Woman 47 

Woman's Dress of Elkskin 48 

Firedrill. Northern Shoshone 51 

Scraping a Hide. Blood 55 

Hide Scrapers 57 

Fleshing Tools 59 

Parfleche Pattern 61 

A Parfleche . 61 

Bag made of Rawhide ■ . 63 

A Case made of Rawhide . 63 

Bag Decorated with Porcupine Quills and Beads. Dakota . . 64 

Pipe and Tobacco Bags. Dakota . . . 65 

Strike-a-light Pouch. Arapaho 67 

Boiling with Hot Stones in a Paunch Supported by Sticks. Black- 
foot .... 70 

Buffalo Horn Spoon 71 

Bone Knife 75 

A Buffalo Hide Shield from the Northern Blackfoot 78 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGE. 

The Cheyenne Camp Circle 85 

Dog Society Dancer. Arapaho 90 

Headdress of Buffalo Skin, Arapaho Women's Society .... 93 

A Blackfoot War Record 94 

Medicine-pipe and Bundle 104 

A Bundle and Contents. Arapaho 106 

Arapaho Sun Dance, Model in the Museum 108 

Digging Stick and Case for Blackfoot Sun Dance Bundle . . . 110 

Sun Dance Headdress. Blackfoot . . . Ill 

Peyote Button 115 

Types of Designs on Moccasins . 120 

Design Elements, Bead and Quill Embroidery 121 

Arapaho Moccasin with Symbolic Decoration 122 

Painted Designs on a Woman's Robe. Dakota 124 

Blanket Band in Quills. Blackfoot 126 

Teton-Dakota and Crow Types 132 

Cheyenne and Pawnee Types 133 

Blackfoot and Wind River Shoshone Types 134 




Culture Areas in North America. 

The divisions marked on this map are not absolute but relative. 
Rarely can a tribe be found anywhere that does not share some of the 
cultural traits of all its immediate neighbors. Yet, certain groups of 
tribes often have highly characterstic traits in common whence they 
are said to be of the same general culture type. Thus the tribes dis- 
cussed in this book have a number of peculiar traits whose distribution. 

11 



12 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



in more or less complete association is taken as indicating the geographi- 
cal extent of a type of culture. The fact that these boundaries almost 
coincide with the limits of the treeless prairies and plains and that 
this culture is most intensified among the tribes living in the Great 
Plains, has given rise to the term Plains Area. In the same way other 
parts of the continent appear as the homes of peculiar culture types. 
Anthropologists generally recognize at least eleven such areas whose 
approximate extents we have indicated in the accompanying map. 
The types for each of these are illustrated as space permits in the four 
halls on the first floor of the Museum. As will be exemplified in the 
text, the lines separating these areas are somewhat arbitrary. A more 
correct method would be to color the areas and divide them by broad 
bands in ever changing mixtures of the two colors, but only in a few 
instances have we sufficient data to do even this accurately. Hence, 
the approximate line seems the best designation of culture boundaries. 

Reference to a linguistic map of North America will show that there 
is little correspondence between linguistic stock and culture type, for 
while in some cases the two lines on the map coincide, in others, they 
show no approach whatsoever. Again, while the physical types of 
the Indians show some tendencies to agree in distribution with cultural 
traits, they also show marked disagreements. Hence, it is not far 
wrong to say that if, according to the data now available, we superim- 
posed cultural, linguistical, and physical type maps, we should find 
them with few boundaries in common. 



The ranges for the va 
their respective names, 
ranges, each tribe claim: 
pleased. The typical I 
the area. To the east 
of the Woodland tribes, 
the boundary for the ei 
termediate position. 




Map Showing the Distribution of the Buffalo about 1S00. 

The larger area defines the limits of the buffalo range in 1800 as 
determined by Dr. J. A. Allen. The smaller area indicates the range 
of the Plains Indians. While the bison area is somewhat larger than 
the culture area, the largest herds were found within the bounds of 
the latter. On the other hand, the cultures of tribes along the borders 
of the area are often intermediate in character. Hence, we find a 
rather close correlation between the distribution of the bison and 
culture traits, the nine typical tribes living where the herds were thick- 
est. 



13 



The Disteebution of Forests in Western United States. 



The shaded portions of this map mark the areas originally covered 
with trees. The true plains extend from north to south along the east- 
ern border of the Rocky Mountains. On the west, trees are found on 
the sides of mountains; on the east, they stretch out into the plains 
along the margins of the streams. Reference to the tribal map shows 
how the typical group ranges in the open plains while the eastern agri- 
cultural village group lives in the partially forested belt. On the west 
the plateau group appears to range in the open stretches among the 
mountains. 



14 



INTRODUCTION. 



The North American Indians may be classified in 
three ways: first, as to language; second, as to customs 
and habits (culture) ; third, as to anatomical characters 
(physical type) . It is, however, usual to consider them 
as composed of small more or less distinct political or 
social groups, or tribes, and it is under such group names 
that the objects in museum collections are arranged. 
The cultures of many tribes are quite similar and since 
such resemblances are nearly always found among 
neighbors and not among widely scattered tribes, it is 
convenient and proper to group them in geographical 
or culture areas. Most anthropologists classify the 
cultures of North American tribes approximately as 
shown on the accompanying map. 

In the region of the great plains and prairies were 
many tribes of Plains Indians, who have held the first 
place in the literature and art of our time. Being 
rather war-like and strong in numbers, many of them 
are intimately associated with the history of our 
western states and every school bo}^ knows how the 
Dakota (Sioux) rode down Custer's command. The 
names of Sitting-bull, Red-cloud, and Chief Joseph are 
also quite familiar. 

The culture of these Plains tribes is most strikingly 
associated with the buffalo, or bison, which not so very 
long ago roamed over their entire area. Turning to 



10 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



the map one may see how closely the distributions of 
this culture type and that for the buffalo coincide. 
This animal supplied them with one of their chief foods, 
in accessible and almost never-failing abundance. For 
a part of the year at least, all Plains tribes used the 
conical skin tent, or tipi. In early times the dog was 
used to transport baggage and supplies, but later, 
horses became very abundant and it is not far wrong to 
speak of all Plains tribes as horsemen. When on the 
hunt or moving in a large body most of these tribes 
were controlled by a band of " soldiers," or police, who 
drove in stragglers and repressed those too eager to 
advance and who also policed the camp and maintained 
order and system in the tribal hunt. All Indians are 
quite religious. Most of the Plains tribes had a grand 
annual gathering known in literature as the sun dance. 
In general, these few main cultural characteristics may 
be taken to designate the type — the use of the buffalo, 
the tipi, the horse, the soldier-band, and the sun dance. 
Many of the tribes living near the Mississippi and along 
the Missouri, practised agriculture in a small way and 
during a part of the year lived in earth-covered or bark 
houses. Furthermore, there are many other tribal 
differences, so that it becomes admissible to subdivide 
the Plains Indians. The following seems the most 
consistent grouping. 



INTRODUCTION. 



17 



1. The Northern Tribes 

*Assiniboine Plains-Cree 

*Blackfoot Plains-Ojibway 

*Crow Sarsi 

*Gros Ventre *Teton-Dakota 

2. The Southern Tribes 

*Arapaho *Comanche 
*Cheyenne *Kiowa 
Kiowa-Apache 

3. The Village, or Eastern Tribes 

Arikara Omaha 

Hidatsa Osage 

Iowa Oto 

Kansas Pawnee 

Mandan Ponca 

Missouri Santee-Dakota 
Wichita 

4. The Plateau, or Western Tribes 

Bannock Northern Shoshone 

Nez Perce Ute 

Wind River Shoshone 



Cultural characteristics change gradually as we go 
from one tribe to another; hence, on the edges of the 
Plains area we may expect many doubtful cases. 
Among such may be enumerated the Flathead and 



18 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Pend D 5 Oreille of the northwest, the Illinois and 
Winnebago of the east, and some Apache of the south. 
On the southeast, in Texas and Arkansas, were the 
Caddoan tribes (Kichai, Waco, Tawakoni, etc., rela- 
tives of the Wichita) having a culture believed to be 
intermediate between the Plains and that of the 
Southeastern area. Yet, in spite of these and other 
doubtful cases, it is usual to exclude all not enumerated 
in the above lists as belonging more distinctly with 
other culture areas. As this grouping is rather for 
convenience than otherwise, and the culture of each 
tribe is determined by its own data, the exact placing 
of these border tribes is of no great moment. However, 
the most typical Plains tribes are the Assiniboine, 
Blackf oot, Gros Ventre, Crow, Teton-Dakota, Arapaho, 
Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa, indicated in the 
preceding list by an asterisk (*). Reference to the 
map shows how peculiarly this typical group stretches 
from north to south, almost in a straight line, with the 
intermediate Plateau group on one side and the Village 
group on the other. Again, the forestry map shows 
that the range of this typical nomadic group coincides 
with the area in which trees are least in evidence. It 
embraces the true tipi-dwelling, horse, and non-agri- 
cultural tribes. It is primarily the cultural traits of 
this nomadic group that are discussed in this book, 
though the important exceptions among the two 
marginal groups are noted. 



Chapter I. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 

Since this is a discussion of the general characteristics 
of Plains Indians, we shall not take them up by tribes, 
as is usual, but by topics. Anthropologists are ac- 
customed to group the facts of primitive life under the 
following main heads: material culture (food, trans- 
portation, shelter, dress, manufactures, weapons, etc.), 
social organization, religion and ceremonies, art, 
language, and physical type. 

Food. 

The flesh of the buffalo was the great staple of the 
Plains Indians, though elk, antelope, bear and smaller 
game were not infrequently used. On the other hand, 
vegetable foods were always a considerable portion of 
their diet, many of the eastern groups cultivating corn 
(maize) and gathering wild rice, the others making 
extensive use of wild roots, seeds, and fruits. All the 
tribes living on the edges of the buffalo area, even those 
on the western border of the Woodlands, seem to have 
made regular hunting excursions out into the open 

19 



20 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



country. Thus Nicolas Perrot writing in 1680-1718 
(p. 119) says of the Indians in Illinois: — 

"The savages set out in the autumn, after they have gathered the 
harvest, to go hunting; and they do not return to their villages until 
the month of March, in order to plant the grain on their lands. As 
soon as this is done, they go hunting again, and do not return until 
the month of July." 

Early explorers in the Plateaus to the west of the 
Plains tell us that the Nez Perce and Flathead of Idaho 
and even the inhabitants of the Rio Grande pueblo of 
Taos, New Mexico, made periodical hunting excursions 
to the plains. 

To most of the Plains tribes, the introduction of the 
European horse was a great boon. Unfortunately, 
we have no definite information as to when and how 
the horse was spread over the plains but it was so early 
that its presence is noted by some of the earliest ex- 
plorers. It is generally assumed that by trade and by 
the capture of horses escaping from the settlements, 
the various tribes quickly acquired their stock, first 
from Mexico and the southern United States, whence 
the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, and Pawnee obtained 
them, and they in turn passed them on to the north. 
The Shoshone and other tribes of the Plateau area were 
also pioneers in their use. Even as early as 1754 they 
are reported in great numbers among the Blackfoot, 
one of the extreme northern plains groups. Hence, 
we have no detailed information as to the mode of life 
among these tribes before the horse was introduced, 
except what is gleaned from their tribal traditions. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



21 



That the use of the horse made a great change in cul- 
ture is quite probable. It must have stimulated 
roving and the pursuit of the buffalo and discouraged 
tendencies toward fixed abodes and agriculture. 

Buffalo Hunting. All Plains tribes seem to have 
practised cooperative hunting in an organized military- 
like manner. This usually took the form of a surround 
in which a large body of Indians on swift horses and 
under the direction of skilled leaders rode round and 
round a herd bunching them up and shooting down the 
animals one by one. Stirring accounts of such hunts 
have been left us by such eye-witnesses as Catlin, 
James, and Grinnell. All tribes seem to have used this 
method in summer and it was almost the only one 
followed by the southern plains tribes. 

In winter, however, when the northern half of the 
plains was often covered with snow, this method was 
not practised. Alexander Henry, Maximilian, and 
others, have described a favorite winter method of 
impounding, or driving the herd into an enclosure. 
Early accounts indicate that the Plains-Cree and 
Assiniboine were the most adept in driving into these 
enclosures and may perhaps have introduced the method 
among the Plains tribes. The Plains-Cree are but a 
small outlying part of a very widely distributed group 
of Cree, the culture of whose main body seems quite 
uniform. Now, even the Cree east of Hudson Bay, 
Canada, use a similar method for deer, and since there 
is every reason to believe that the Plains-Cree are but 
a colony of the larger body to the east, it seems fair to 



22 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



assume that the method of impounding buffalo origi- 
nated with them. However that may be, some form 
of it was practised by the Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, 
Hidatsa, Mandan, Teton-Dakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, 
and perhaps others. 

We have some early accounts of another method 
used in the prairies of Illinois and Iowa. Thus, in 
Perrot (121) we read: — 

"When the village has a large number of young men able to bear 
arms they divide these into three bodies: one takes its route to the 
right, another that to the left, and half of the third party is divided 
between the two former ones. One of these latter parties goes away 
[from its main column] a league or thereabout to the right, and the 
other remains on the left, both parties forming, each on its own side, 
a long file; then they set out, in single file, and continue their march 
until they judge that their line of men is sufficiently long for them to 
advance into the depths [of the forest]. As they begin their march at 
midnight, one of the parties waits until dawn, while the others pursue 
their way; and after they have marched a league or more another 
party waits again for daylight; the rest march [until] after another 
half-league has been covered, and likewise wait. When the day has 
at last begun, this third party which had separated to the right and the 
left with the two others pushes its way farther; and as soon as the 
rising sun has dried off the dew on the ground, the parties on the right 
and the left, being in sight of each other, come together in [one] file, 
and close up the end of the circuit which they intend to surround. 

"They commence at once by setting fire to the dried herbage which is 
abundant in those prairies; those who occupy the flanks do the same; 
and at that moment the entire village breaks camp, with all the old men 
and young boys — who divide themselves equally on both sides, move 
away to a distance, and keep the hunting parties in sight so that they 
can act with the latter, so that the fires can be lighted on all four sides 
at once and gradually communicate the flames from one to another. 
That produces the same effect to the sight as four ranks of palisades, 
in which the buffaloes are enclosed. When the savages see that the 
animals are trying to get outside of it, in order to escape the fires which 
surround them on all sides (and this is the one thing in the world which 
they most fear), they run at them and compel them to reenter the 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



23 



enclosure; and they avail themselves of this method to kill all the beasts. 
It is asserted that there are some villages which have secured as many 
as fifteen hundred buffaloes, and others more or fewer, according to the 
number of men in each and the size of the enclosure which they make 
in their hunting." 

The natural inference seems to be that the grass 
firing and impounding methods of taking buffalo were 
developed before the introduction of the horse and are 
therefore the most primitive. The individual hunting 
of buffalo as well as in small parties was, of course, 
practised. Swift horses were used to bring the rider 
in range when he shot down the fleeing beasts. Before 
horses were known the cooperative method must have 
prevailed. 

Hunting Implements. The implements used for 
killing buffalo were not readily displaced by guns. 
Bows and arrows were used long after guns were com- 
mon. In fact, pioneers maintain that at close range 
the rapidity and precession of the bow was only to be 
excelled by the repeating rifle, a weapon developed in 
the 70's. Even so, the bow was not entirely discarded 
until the buffalo became extinct. The bows were of 
two general types: the plain wooden bow, and the 
sinew-backed, or compound bow. It is generally held 
that the tribes east of the Mississippi River used the 
simple wooden bow while those on the Pacific Coast 
used the sinew-backed type. It is quite natural there- 
fore, that among the Plains tribes, we should find both 
types in general use and that the sinew-backed was 
more common among the Shoshone and other Plateau 
tribes. 



24 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Some curious bows were made from mountain sheep 
horn backed with sinew, a fine example of which is to 
be seen in the Xez Perce collection (Fig. 1). The 
Crow, Hidatsa, and Mandan sometimes used a bow 




Fig. 1. Sinew-backed Bow and Quiver from the Blackfoot and a 
Compound Bow of Mountain Sheep Horn from the Xez Perce. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



25 



of elkhorn, probably one of the finest examples of 
Indian workmanship: "They take a large horn or 
prong, and saw a slice off each side of it; these slices 
are then filed or rubbed down until the flat sides fit 
nicely together, when they are glued and wrapped at 
the ends. Four slices make a bow, it being jointed. 
Another piece of horn is laid on the center of the bow 
at the grasp, where it is glued fast. The whole is then 
filed down until it is perfectly proportioned, when the 
white bone is ornamented, carved, and painted. Noth- 




4 



Fig. 2. Lance with Obsidian Point. Nez Perce. 



ing can exceed the beauty of these bows, and it takes 
an Indian about three months to make one." (Belden, 
112.) All these compound bows are , sinew-backed, 
it being the sinew that gives them efficiency. Some 
fine old wooden bows may be seen in the Museum's 
Dakota collection. 

A lance was frequently used for buffalo : in the hands 
of a powerful horseman, this is said to have been quite 
effective. There is a stone-pointed lance in the Nez 
Perce collection which may be of the type formerly 
used, Fig. 2. Wounded animals and those in the 



26 



INDIANS OF THE PLAIXS. 



enclosure of the pound were often brought down by 
knocking on the head with stone-headed clubs and 
mauls. 

Pemmican. As buffalo could not be killed every day, 
some method of preserving their flesh in an eatable 
condition was necessary to the well-being of the Plains 
Indian. The usual method was by drying in the sun. 
Steaks were cut broad and thin, and slashed by short 




Fig. 3. Meat Drying Rack. Blackfoot. 



cuts which gaped open when the pieces were suspended, 
giving the appearance of holes. These steaks were 
often placed in boiling water for a few moments and 
then hung upon poles or racks out of reach of dogs. 
In the course of a few days, if kept free from moisture, 
the meat became hard and dry. It could then be 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



27 



stored in bags for future use. Fat, or meat, could be 
dried if slightly boiled. 

Dried meat of the buffalo and sometimes of the elk 
was often pounded fine, making what was known as 
pemmican. While some form of pemmican was used 
in many parts of North America, the most characteristic 
kind among the Plains Indians was the berry pemmican. 
To make this, the best cuts of the buffalo were dried 




Fig. 4. Stone-headed Pounders. 



in the usual manner. During the berry season wild 
cherries (Prunus demissa) were gathered and crushed 
with stones, pulverizing the pits, and reducing the 
whole to a thick paste which was partially dried in the 
sun. Then the dried meat was softened by holding 
over a fire, after which it was pounded fine with a stone 
or stone-headed maul. In the Dakota collection may 
be seen some interesting rawhide mortars for this 



28 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



purpose. This pulverized meat was mixed with melted 
fat and marrow, to which was added the dried but 
sticky cherry paste. The whole mass was then packed 
in a long, flat rawhide bag, called a parfleche. With 
proper care, such pemmican would keep for years. 
In pioneer days, it was greatly prized by white trappers 
and soldiers. 

Agriculture. Almost without exception, the village 
group of tribes made at least some attempts to cultivate 
maize. Of the northern tribes, none have been credited 
with this practice, except perhaps the Teton-Dakota. 
Yet, the earlier observers usually distinguish the Teton 
from the Santee-Dakota by their non-agricultural 
habits. Of the southern tribes, we cannot be so sure. 
The Cheyenne, who seem to have abandoned a forest 
home for the plains just before the historic period have 
traditions of maize culture but seem to have discon- 
tinued it soon after going into the buffalo country. 
The Arapaho are thought by some anthropologists to 
have preceded the Cheyenne. Yet while many writers 
are disposed to admit that all of the southern group 
may have made some attempts at maize growing, they 
insist that these were feeble in comparison with the 
village tribes. When, however, we turn to the Plateau 
area, there are no traces of maize growing. In asso- 
ciation with maize it was usual to raise some varieties 
of squash and beans. 

Thus, in a general way, the practice of agriculture 
seems to gradually dwindle out as we leave the more 
fertile river bottoms of the east and south, suggesting 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



29 



that its positive absence among the extreme western 
and northern tribes is due to unfavorable soil and climate 
rather than to any mental or social differences in the 
tribes concerned. This is consistent with the wide 
distribution of tobacco raising. The Blackfoot, Crow, 
Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, Pawnee, and Santee- 
Dakota are known to have cultivated it for ceremonial 
purposes. So far as known this plant was Nicotiana 
multivalvis, said to be a native of Oregon and to have 
been cultivated by tribes in the Columbia River valley. 
The fact that the Blackfoot and Crow did not attempt 
any other agriculture except the raising of this tobacco 
rather strengthens the previous opinion that maize 
was not produced because of the unfavorable conditions. 
Among the tribes of the Plateau area, wild seeds and 
grains were gathered and so took the place of maize 
in the east. On the other hand, the northern and 
southern groups depended mostly upon dried berries 
and edible roots which however, were a relatively 
small part of their diet, buffalo flesh being the impor- 
tant food. This was particularly true of the nine 
typical tribes. With these tribes, the buffalo was not 
only food: but his by-products, such as skin, bones, 
hair, horns, and sinew, were the chief materials for 
costume, tents, and utensils of all kinds. 



Transportation. 



Before the introduction of the horse, the Plains 
Indians traveled on foot. The tribes living along the 



30 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Mississippi made some use of canoes, according to 




Fig. 5. Blackfoot Travois. 

early accounts, while those of the Missouri and inland, 
used only crude tub-like affairs for ferry purposes. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



31 



When first discovered, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and 
Arikara had villages on the Missouri, in what is now 
North Dakota, but they have never been credited with 
canoes. For crossing the river, they used the bull- 
boat, a tub-shaped affair made by stretching buffalo 
skins over a wooden frame; but journeys up and down 




Fig. 6. Assiniboine Dog Travois. 



the bank were made on foot. Many of the Santee- 
Dakota used small canoes in gathering wild rice in the 
small lakes of Minnesota, though the Teton-Dakota 
have not been credited with the practice. It seems 
probable that the ease of travel in the open plains and 
the fact that the buffalo were often to be found inland, 
made the use of canoes impractical, whereas along the 



32 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



great lakes the broad expanse of water offered every 
advantage to their use. Since almost every Plains 
tribe used some form of the bull-boat for ferrying, and 
many of them came in contact with canoe-using 
Indians, the failure of those living along the Missouri 
to develop the canoe can scarcely be attributed to 
ignorance. 

When on the march, baggage was carried on the 
human back and also by dogs, the only aboriginal 
domestic animals. Most tribes used a peculiar A- 
shaped contrivance, known as a dog travois, upon which 
packs were placed. All the northern tribes, save the 
Crow, are credited with the dog travois. Many of 
the village tribes also used it, as did also some of the 
southern group. With the introduction of the horse, 
a larger but similar travois was used. This, however, 
did not entirely displace the dog travois as Catlin's 
sketches show Indians on the march with both horses 
and dogs harnessed to travois. The travois of the 
northern tribes were of two types: rectangular cross- 
frames and oval netted frames, Fig. 5. The Blackfoot, 
Sarsi and Gros Ventre inclined toward the former; the 
Assiniboine, Dakota, Hidatsa, and Mandan toward the 
latter, though both types were often used simultane- 
ously. On the other hand, the southern tribes seem 
to have inclined toward an improvised travois formed 
by binding tipi poles to the sides of the saddle and 
slinging the pack across behind. As previously noted, 
the Crow seem not to have used the travois and the 
same may be said of the tribes in the Plateau area. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 33 

These tribes, however, formerly used the dog as a 
pack animal. 

The use of a sled on the ice or snow has not been 




Fig. 7. Crossing the Missouri in a Bull-Boat. 
(Wilson photo.) 



credited to any except some of the Santee-Dakota 
and the Mandan and among them it is quite probable 
that it was introduced by white traders. 



34 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



The riding gear and horse trappings that always 
form an interesting part of collections, naturally came 
in with the horse and followed European models. The 
native bridle was a simple rope or thong looped around 
the jaw. Saddles were of two types, pads, and frames. 
The latter were made of wood or elkhorn securely 
bound with fresh buffalo hide which shrunk as it dried. 
The Mills Catlin collection contains a sketch showing 
how one of the saddles is staked down to the ground 
while the wet rawhide sets in place. Women's saddles 
had very high pommels and were often gaily ornamented. 
Stirrups were also made of wood bound with rawhide. 
Some tribes, the Dakota for example, used highly 
decorated saddle blankets, or skins; while others 
(Crow, Blackfoot, etc.) used elaborate cruppers. Quirts 
with short handles of elkhorn or wood were common. 
In fact, there was little difference in the form of riding 
gear among all the Plains tribes. 

The nine typical tribes were more or less always on 
the move. All their possessions were especially de- 
signed for ready transport. Nearly all receptacles 
and most utensils were made of rawhide, while the tipi, 
or tent, was easily rolled up and placed upon a travois. 
When the chief gave out the order to break camp it 
took but a few minutes for the women to have every- 
thing loaded on travois and ready for the march. Even 
the village group used tipis and horses when on the 
buffalo hunt (p. 17). The smaller baggage was often 
loaded upon dog travois. We have no accurate data 
as to how the camp was moved before horses came into 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



35 



the country, but it was certainly more laborious and 
the marches shorter. 

Shelter. 

The Tipi. One of the most characteristic features 
of Plains Indian culture was the tipi. All the tribes 
of the area, almost without exception, used it for a 
part of the year at least. Primarily, the tipi was a 
conical tent covered with dressed buffalo skins. A 
carefully mounted and equipped tipi from the Black- 
foot Indians stands in the center of the Plains exhibit. 
Everywhere the tipi was made, cared for, and set up 
by the women. First, a conical framework of long 
slender poles was erected and the cover raised into 
place. Then the edges of the cover were staked down 
and the poles supporting the "ears" put in place. 
The "ears" are wings, or flies, to keep the wind out of 
the smoke hole at the top; they were moved about by 
the outside poles. The fire was built near the center 
and the beds spread upon the ground around the sides. 
The head of the family usually sat near the rear, or 
facing the door. 

While in essential features the tipis of all Plains 
tribes were the same, there were nevertheless some 
important differences. Thus, when setting up a tipi, 
the Blackfoot, Crow, Sarsi, Hidatsa, Omaha, and 
Comanche first tie four poles as a support to the others; 
while the Teton-Dakota, Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Gros 
Ventre, Arapaho, Kiowa, Plains-Cree, Mandan, and 
Pawnee use three, or a tripod foundation. For the 



36 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



remaining tribes, we lack data, but it seems safe to 
assume that they follow one or . the other of these 
methods. The three-pole foundation gives the pro- 
jecting tops of the poles a spiral appearance while the 
four-pole beginning tends to group them on the sides. 
Thus, to a practised eye. the difference is plain. The 
covers, ears, doors, etc.. are quite similar throughout. 
The shapes of tipis. however, show some differences. 
Thus, the Cheyenne prefer a wide base in proportion 
to the height while the Arapaho prefer a narrow base. 
Again, the Crow use very long poles, the ends pro- 
jecting out above like a great funnel. 

It is important to note that the use of the tipi is not 
confined to the plains. The Ojibway along the Lakes 
used it. but covered it with birchbark as did also many 
of the Cree and tribes formerly established in eastern 
Canada and Xew England. Even the Santee-Dakota 
in early days used birchbark for tipi covers. A tipi-like 
skin-covered tent was in general use among the Indians 
of Labrador and westward throughout the entire 
Mackenzie area of Canada. To the west, the Plains 
tipi was found among the Xez Perce. Flathead, Cayuse, 
and Umatilla; to the southwest, among the Apache. 
It is well nigh impossible to determine what tribes first 
originated this type of shelter, though a comparison 
of the details of structure might give some definite 
clues. Yet, one thing is clear: viz: that it was espe- 
cially adapted to the roving life of the Plains tribes 
when pursuing the buffalo. 

Earth Lodges. Before going further, we must needs 



38 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



recall that the tipi was not the only type of shelter used 
by these Indians. The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara 
lived in more or less permanent villages of curious 
earth-covered lodges. The following description of a 
Hidatsa house may serve as a type : — 

" On the site of a proposed lodge, they often dig down a foot or more 
in order to find earth compact enough to form a good floor; so, in some 
lodges, the floors are lower than the general surface of the ground on 
which the village stands. The floor is of earth, and has in its center a 
circular depression, for a fire-place, about a foot deep, and three or four 
feet wide, with an edging of flat rocks. These dwellings, being from 
thirty to forty feet in diameter, from ten to fifteen feet high in the 
center, and from five to seven feet high at the eaves, are quite com- 
modious. 

" The frame of a lodge is thus made: — A number of stout posts, from 
ten to fifteen, according to the size of the lodge, and rising to the height 
of about five feet above the surface of the earth, are set about ten feet 
apart in a circle. On the tops of these posts, solid beams are laid, ex- 
tending from one to another. Then, toward the center of the lodge, 
four more posts are erected, of much greater diameter than the outer 
posts, and rising to the height of ten or more feet above the ground. 
These four posts stand in the corners of a square of about fifteen feet, 
and their tops are connected with four heavy logs or beams laid hori- 
zontally. From the four central beams to the smaller external beams, 
long poles, as rafters, are stretched at an angle of about 30° with the 
horizon; and from the outer beams to the earth a number of shorter 
poles are laid at an angle of about 45°. Finally a number of saplings 
or rails are laid horizontally to cover the space between the four central 
beams, leaving only a hole for the combined skylight and chimney. 
This frame is then covered with willows, hay, and earth, as before men- 
tioned; the covering being of equal depth over all parts of the frame. 
(Matthews, 4-5). 

Houses of approximately the same type were used 
by the Pawnee, Omaha, Ponca, Kansas, Missouri, and 
Oto. The Osage, on the other hand, are credited with 
the use of dome-shaped houses covered with mats and 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



39 



bark, like the 0 jib way and other Woodland tribes. 
The Hidatsa type of lodge is, unlike the tipi, definitely 
localized along the Missouri and the Platte, giving one 
the impression that it must have originated within this 
territory. The Omaha claim to have originally used 





Fig. 9. Hidatsa Village in 1868. 
(Morrow photo reproduced by F. N. Wilson.) 



tipis and to have learned the use of earth lodges from 
the Arikara; likewise the Skidi-Pawnee claim the tipi 
as formerly their only dwelling. However, all these 
tribes used tipis when on summer and winter trigs after 
buffalo (p. 20). 



40 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Some of the Santee-Dakota lived for a part of the 
year in rectangular cabins of bark and poles as did some 
of the Woodland tribes. On the west, an oval or 
conical brush or grass shelter seems to have preceded 
the tipi. The Comanche were seen using both this 
western type of brush lodge and the tipi in 1853. The 
Northern Shoshone have also been observed with 
brush lodges and tipis in the same camp. These 
instances are probably examples of a transition in 
culture. Thus, we see how even among the less civilized 
peoples all are prone to be influenced by the culture of 
their neighbors and that in consequence, cultures grade 
into one another according to geographical relations. 

Another curious thing is that all the tribes raising 
maize used earth or bark houses, but as a rule lived in 
them only while planting, tending, and harvesting the 
crop. At other times, they took to tipis. Even in 
mid-winter the Omaha and Santee-Dakota lived in 
tipis. 

A unique and exceptional type of shelter was used 
by the Wichita and the related Caddoan tribes of the 
Southeastern culture area. This is known as a grass 
lodge. It consists of a dome-shaped structure of poles 
thatched over with grass and given an ornamental 
appearance by the regular spacing of extra bunches of 
thatch. Formerly, each house had four doors, east, 
west, north, and south, and four poles projected from 
the roof in the respective directions. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



41 



Dress. 

The men of the Plains were not elaborately clothed. 
At home, they usually went about in breech cloth and 
moccasins. The former was a broad strip of cloth 
drawn up between the legs and passed under the belt 
both behind and before. There is some reason for 
believing that even this was introduced by white 
traders, the more primitive form being a small apron 
of dressed skin. At all seasons a man kept at hand a 
soft tanned buffalo robe in which he tastefully swathed 
his person when appearing in public. This was uni- 
versally true of all except those of the Plateau area 
and possibly some of the southern tribes. In the Pla- 
teaus, the most common for winter were robes of ante- 
lope, elk, and mountain sheep, while in summer 
elkskins without the hair were worn. Beaver skins 
and those of other small animals were sometimes 
pieced together. According to Grinnell, the Blackfoot, 
east of the Rocky Mountains also used these various 
forms of robes. The Plateau tribes sometimes used a 
curious woven blanket of strips of rabbitskin also 
widely used in Canada and the Southwest. So far this 
type of blanket has not been reported for the Plains 
tribes east of the mountains. 

Everywhere, we find no differences between the robes 
of men and women except in their decorations. The 
buffalo robes were usually the entire skins with the tail. 
Among most tribes, the robe was worn horizontally 
with the tail on the right hand side. Light, durable, 



42 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



and gaily colored blankets were later introduced by 
traders and are even now in general use. 

Moccasins were worn by all, the sandals of the 
Southwest and Mexico not being credited to these 
Indians. The two general structural types of mocca- 
sins in North America are the one-piece, or soft-soled 
moccasin, and the two-piece, or hard-soled. The 




r Fig. 10. One-piece Moccasin Pattern. That part of the pattern 
marked a forms the upper side of the moccasin; b, the sole; e, the 
tongue; /, the trailer. The leather is folded lengthwise, along the 
dotted line, the points c and d are brought together and the edges sewed 
along to the point g, which makes a seam the whole length of the foot 
and around the toes. The vertical heel seam is formed by sewing 
c and d now joined to h, / projecting. The strips c and d are each, half 
the width of that marked h, consequently the side seam at the heel is 
half way between the top of the moccasin and the sole, but reaches the 
level at the toes. As the sides of this moccasin are not high enough for 
the wearer's comfort, an extension or ankle flap is sewed on, varying 
from two to six inches in width, cut long enough to overlap in front and 
held in place by means of the usual draw string or lacing around the 
ankle. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



43 



latter prevails among these Indians, while the former 
is general among forest Indians. A Blackfoot moccasin 
of a simple two-piece pattern is shown in the figure. 
The upper is made of soft tanned skin and after finish- 
ing and decorating is sewed to a rawhide sole cut to fit 
the foot of the wearer. A top, or vamp, may be added. 




Fig. 11. Two-piece Moccasin Pattern. This type prevails in the 
Plains. The soles are of stiff rawhide. They conform generally to the 
outlines of the foot. The uppers are cut as shown in the pattern, 
though sometimes the tongue is separate. An ankle flap is added. 

The pattern for a Blackfoot one-piece moccasin is 
shown in Figure 10. Our collections show that this 
type occurs occasionally among the Sarsi, Blackfoot, 
Plains-Cree, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Northern Sho- 
shone, Omaha, Pawnee, and Santee-Dakota. So far, 
it has not been reported for any of the southern tribes. 
Among many of the foregoing, this form seems to have 



44 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



been preferred for winter wear, using buffalo skin with 
the hair inside. Again, since all the tribes to the north 
and east of these Indians used the one-piece moccasin 
all the year round, its presence in this part of the Plains 
is quite natural. 

To the south, we find a combined stiff-soled moccasin 
and legging to be seen among the Arapaho, Ute, and 
Comanche. This again seems to be related to a boot 
type of moccasin found in parts of the Southwest. 

So, in general, the hard-soled moccasin is the type 
for these Indians. Old frontiersmen claim that from 
the tracks of a war party, the tribe could be determined ; 
this is in a measure true, for each had some distinguish- 
ing secondary feature, such as heel fringes, toe forms, 
etc., that left their marks in the dust of the trail. 
Ornaments and decoration will, however, be discussed 
under another head. 

Almost everywhere the men wore long leggings tied 
to the belt. Women's leggings were short, extending 
from the ankle to the knee and supported by garters. 

Some of the most conspicuous objects in the collec- 
tions are the so-called war, or scalp shirts, Fig. 12. 
One of the oldest was obtained by Col. Sword in 1838 
and seems to be Dakota (Sioux). It is of mountain 
sheep skin. Some fine modern examples are credited 
to the Teton-Dakota, Crow, and Blackfoot, though 
almost every tribe had them in late years. This type, 
however, should not be taken as a regular costume. 
Though in quite recent years it has become a kind of 
tuxedo, it was formerly the more or less exclusive 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



45 



uniform of important functionaries. On the other 
hand, the shirt itself, stripped of its ornaments and 
accessories seems to be of the precise pattern once worn 




Fig. 12. Man's Shirt. Blackfoot. 



in daily routine. Yet, the indications are that as a 
regular costume, the shirt was by no means in general 
use. The Cree, Dene, and other tribes of central 
Canada wore leather shirts, no doubt because of the 



46 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



severe winters. We also have positive knowledge of 
their early use by the Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Crow, 
Dakota, Plains-Cree, Nez Perce, Northern Shoshone, 
Gros Ventre, and on the other hand of their absence 
among the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Pawnee, Osage, 
Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Comanche. Thus, 
the common shirt was after all not typical of the Plains 
Indians: it is only recently that the special decorated 
form so characteristic of the Assiniboine, Crow, Black- 
foot, and Dakota has come into general use. Several 
interesting points may be noted in the detailed struc- 
ture of these shirts, but we must pass on. 

For the head there was no special covering. Yet in 
winter the Blackfoot, Plains-Cree, and perhaps others 
in the north, often wore fur caps. In the south and in 
the Plateaus, the eyes were sometimes protected by 
simple shades of rawhide. So, in general, both sexes 
in the Plains went bare-headed, though the robe was 
often pulled up forming a kind of temporary hood. 

Mittens and gloves seem to have been introduced by 
the whites, though they appear to have been native in 
other parts of the continent. 

The women of all tribes wore more clothing than the 
men. The most typical garment was the sleeveless 
dress, a one-piece garment, an excellent example of 
which is to be seen in the Audubon collection, Fig. 14. 
This type was used by the Hidatsa, Mandan, Crow, 
Dakota, Arapaho, Ute, Kiowa, Comanche, Sarsi, 
Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and perhaps others. A slight 
variant is reported for the Nez Perce, Northern Sho- 



Fig. 13. Costumed Figure of a Dakota Woman. 

47 



48 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



shone, and Plains-Cree in that the extensions of the 
cape are formed into a tight-fitting sleeve. Some 
writers claim that in early days the Assiniboine and 




Fig. 14. Woman's Dress of Elkskin. Audubon. 



Blackfoot women also used this form. Formerly, the 
Cheyenne, Osage, and Pawnee women wore a two- 
piece garment consisting of a skirt and a cape, a form 
typical of the Woodland Indians of the east. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



49 



The manner of dressing the hair is often a conspicuous 
conventional feature. Many of the Plains tribes wore 
it uncropped. Among the northern tribes the men 
frequently gathered the hair in two braids but in the 
Plateau area and among some of the southern tribes, 
both sexes usually wore it loose on the shoulders and 
back. The Crow men sometimes cropped the fore-lock 
and trained it to stand erect; the Blackfoot, Assini- 
boine, Yankton-Dakota, Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, 
and Kiowa trained a fore-lock to hang down over the 
nose. Early writers report a general practice of arti- 
ficially lengthening men's hair by gumming on extra 
strands until it sometimes dragged on the ground. 

The hair of women throughout the Plains was usually 
worn in the two-braid fashion with the median part 
from the forehead to the neck. Old women frequently 
allowed the hair to hang down at the sides or confined 
it by a simple head band. 

Again, we find exceptions in that the Oto, Osage, 
Pawnee, and Omaha closely cropped the sides of the 
head, leaving a ridge or tuft across the crown and down 
behind. It is almost certain that the Ponca once 
followed the same style and there is a tradition among 
the Oglala division of the Teton-Dakota that they also 
shaved the sides of the head. (See also History of the 
Expedition of Lewis and Clark, Reprinted, New York, 
1902, Vol. 1, p. 135.) We may say then that the love 
of long heavy tresses was a typical trait of the Plains. 

By the public every Indian is expected to have his 
hair thickly decked with feathers. The striking 



50 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



feather bonnets with long tails usually seen in pictures 
were exceptional and formerly permitted only to a few 
distinguished men. They are most characteristic of 
the Dakota. Even a common eagle feather in the hair 
of a Dakota had some military significance according 
to its form and position. On the other hand, objects 
tied in a Blackfoot's hair were almost certain to have a 
charm value. So far as we know, among all tribes, 
objects placed in the hair of men usually had more than 
a mere aesthetic significance. 

Beads for the neck, ear ornaments, necklaces of claws, 
scarfs of otter and other fur, etc., were in general use. 
The face and exposed parts of the body were usually 
painted and sometimes the hair also. Women were 
fond of tracing the part line with vermilion. There 
was little tattooing and noses were seldom pierced. 
The ears, on the other hand, were usually perforated 
and adorned with pendants which among Dakota 
women were often long strings of shells reaching the 
waist line. 

Instead of combs, brushes made from the tails of 
porcupines were used in dressing the hair. The most 
common form was made by stretching the porcupine 
tail over a stick of wood. The hair of the face and 
other parts of the body was pulled out by small tweezers. 

Industrial Arts. 

Under this head the reader may be reminded that 
among most American tribes each family produces and 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



51 



manufactures for itself. There is a more or less definite 
division between the work of men and women, but 
beyond that there is little specialization. The indi- 
viduals are not of equal skill, 
but still each practises practi- 
cally the whole gamut of in- 
dustrial arts peculiar to his 
sex. This fact greatly in- 
creases the importance of such 
arts when considered as cul- 
tural traits. 

Fire-making. The methods 
of making fire are often of 
great cultural interest. So far 
as our data go, the method in 
this area was by the simple 
firedrill as shown in the Sho- 
shone collections, Fig. 15. 
Some of the Woodland tribes 
used the bowdrill but so far, 
this has not been reported for 
the Plains. It may be well to 
note that to strike fire with 
flint one must have some form 
of iron and while pyrites was 
used by some Eskimo and 
other tribes of the far north, 
it seems to have been un- 
known in the Plains. Naturally, flint and steel were 
among the first articles introduced by white traders. 




Fig. 15. Firedrill 
ern Shoshone. 



North- 



52 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Textiles and Skins. While in a general way, it is 
true that the Plains Indians used skins instead of cloth 
and basketry, it cannot be said that they were entirely 
unfamiliar with the latter. Of true cloth, we have no 
trace. Blankets woven with strips of rabbit fur have 
been noted (p. 41) and on certain Osage war bundles, we 
find covers of thick strands of buffalo hair; these are 
about the only traces of true weaving. On the other 
hand, baskets were more in evidence. The Shoshone 
and Ute were rather skillful, making and using many 
varieties of baskets. The Nez Perce made a fine soft 
bag like their western neighbors. The Hidatsa, Man- 
dan, and Arikara made a peculiar carrying basket of 
checker weave, and are also credited with small crude 
coiled baskets used in gambling games. It is believed 
by some students that the last were occasionally made 
by the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Dakota. The 
Osage have some twined bags, or soft baskets, in which 
ceremonial bundles are kept, but otherwise were not 
given to basketry. The Omaha formerly wove scarfs 
and belts. On the south, the Comanche are believed 
to have made a few crude baskets. Woven mats were 
almost unknown, except the simple willow backrests 
used by the Blackfoot, Mandan, Cheyenne, Gros 
Ventre, and others. These are, after all, but citations 
of exceptions most pronounced among the marginal 
tribes, the fact being that the area as a whole is singu- 
larly weak in the textile arts. 

Since skins everywhere took the place of cloth, the 
dressing of pelts was an important industry. It was 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



53 



not only woman's work but her worth and virtue were 
estimated by her output. Soles of moccasins, parfleche, 
and other similar bags were made of stiff rawhide, the 
product of one of the simplest and perhaps the most 
primitive methods of treating skins. The uppers of 
moccasins, soft bags, thongs, etc., were of pliable 
texture, produced by a more elaborate and laborious 
process. 

For the rawhide finish the treatment is as follows : — 
Shortly after the removal of a hide, it is stretched out 
on the ground near the tipi, hair side down, and held 
in place by wooden stakes or pins such as are used in 
staking down the covers of tipis. Clinging to the 
upturned flesh side of the hide are many fragments 
of muscular tissue, fat, and strands of connective 
tissue, variously blackened by coagulated blood. The 
first treatment is that of cleaning or fleshing. Shortly 
after the staking out, the surface is gone over with a 
fleshing tool by which the adhering flesh, etc., is raked 
and hacked away. This is an unpleasant and laborious 
process requiring more brute strength than skill. 
Should the hide become too dry and stiff to work well, 
the surface is treated with warm water. After fleshing, 
the hide is left to cure and bleach in the sun for some 
days, though it may be occasionally saturated by 
pouring warm water over its surface. The next thing 
is to work the skin down to an even thickness by 
scraping with an adze-like tool. The stakes are usually 
pulled up and the hard stiff hide laid down under a 
sun-shade or other shelter. Standing on the hide, 



54 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



the woman leans over and with a sidewise movement 
removes the surface in chips or shavings, the action 
of the tool resembling that of a hand plane. After the 
flesh side has received this treatment, the hide is 
turned and the hair scraped away in the same manner. 
This completes the rawhide process and the subse- 
quent treatment is determined by the use to be made 
of it. 

The soft-tan finish as given to buffalo and deer hides 
for robes, soft bags, etc., is the same in its initial stages 
as the preceding. After fleshing and scraping, the 
rawhide is laid upon the ground and the surface rubbed 
over with an oily compound composed of brains and 
fat often mixed with liver. This is usually rubbed on 
with the hands. Any kind of fat may be used for 
this purpose though the preferred substance is as 
stated above. The writer observed several instances 
in which mixtures of packing house lard, baking flour, 
and warm water were rubbed over the rawhide as a 
substitute. The rawhide is placed in the sun, after 
the fatty compound has been thoroughly worked into 
the texture by rubbing with a smooth stone that the 
heat may aid in its further distribution. When quite 
dry, the hide is saturated with warm water and for a 
time kept rolled up in a bundle. In this state, it 
usually shrinks and requires a great deal of stretching 
to get it back to its approximate former size. This 
is accomplished by pulling with the hands and feet, 
two persons being required to handle a large skin. 
After this, come the rubbing and drying processes. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



55 



The surface is vigorously rubbed with a rough edged 
stone until it presents a clean-grained appearance. 
The skin is further dried and whitened by sawing back 
and forth through a loop of twisted sinew or thong 
tied to the under side of an inclined tipi pole. \, This 



r 




Fig. 16. Scraping a Hide. Blood. 

friction develops considerable heat, thereby drying 
and softening the texture. As this and the preceding 
rubbing are parts of the same process their chronological 
relation is not absolute, but the order, was usually as 
given above. The skin is then ready for use. 



56 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Skins with the hair on, are treated in the same manner 
as above, except that the adze-tool is not applied to the 
hair side. A large buffalo robe was no light object 
and was handled with some difficulty, especially in the 
stretching, in consequence of which they were some- 
times split down the middle and afterwards sewed 
together again. 

Among some of the village tribes, it seems to have 
been customary to stretch the skin on a four-sided frame 
and place it upright as shown in the group for Plateau 
culture (south side of the Woodland Hall). The exact 
distribution of this trait is not known but it has been 
credited to the Santee-Dakota, Hidatsa, and Mandan. 
The Blackfoot sometimes used it in winter, but laid 
flat upon the ground. 

Buckskin was prepared in the same manner as among 
the forest tribes. The tribes of the Plateau area were 
especially skillful in coloring the finished skin by smok- 
ing. There were many slight variations in all the 
above processes. 

The adze-like scraper was in general use throughout 
the Plains and occurs elsewhere only among bordering 
tribes. Hence, it is peculiar to the buffalo hunting 
tribes. The handle was of antler, though occasionally 
of wood, and the blade of iron. Information from some 
Blackfoot and Dakota Indians indicates that in former 
times the blades were of chipped stone, but the chipped 
scraper found in archaeological collections from . the 
Plains area cannot be fastened to the handle in the 
same manner as the iron blades, the latter being placed 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



57 



on the inner, or under side, while the shape of the 
chipped stone blade seems to indicate that it was placed 
on the outside. Hence, the former use of stone blades 
for these scrapers must be considered doubtful. The 
iron blades are bound to the wedge-shaped haft, which 
each downward blow, when the tool is in use, forces 
tightly into the binding. When the pressure is re- 
moved the blade and binding may slip off. To prevent 
this, some tools are provided with a cord running from 




Fig. 17. Hide Scrapers. 



the end of the handle once or twice around its middle 
and thence to the binding of the blade. Again a 
curved iron blade is used, one end of which is bound 
near the middle of the handle. These types (Fig. 17) 
are widely distributed throughout the Plains, but the 
curved iron blade seems to be most frequent among 
the Arapaho and Cheyenne, and wooden handles 
among the Comanche. 

On the other hand, fleshing tools, chisel-shaped with 



58 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



notched edges, were used throughout Canada east of 
the Rocky Mountains, and in many parts of the United 
States. Hence, they cannot be taken as peculiar to 
the Plains. The older type of flesher is apparently the 
one made entirely of bone, while the later ones were 
made entirely of iron. Sometimes an intermediate 
form is found in which a small metal blade is fastened 
to the end of a bone shaft (Fig. 18). The shaft of the 
flesher is usually covered with rawhide and to its end 
is attached a loop for the wrist. The iron flesher seems 
to be the only type peculiar to the Indians of the Plains. 
The distribution of the bone flesher is such that its 
most probable origin may be assigned to the Algonkin 
tribes of the Great Lakes and northward. 

Beaming tools are identified with the dressing of 
deerskins and in this respect stand distinct from the 
adze tool used in dressing buffalo skins. They seem 
to be used wherever the dressing of deer skins is prev- 
alent and are best known under the following types : — - 
a split leg bones; b combined tibia and fibula of deer 
or similar animal; c rib bone; d wooden stick with 
metal blade in middle, stick usually curved. 

From the collections in this Museum it seems that 
the split leg bone type is not found in the Plains. 
Should further inquiry show this to be the case, it 
would be a matter of some interest since the split bone 
type is found in archaeological collections from British 
Columbia, Ohio, and New York. The general aspect 
of the foregoing is, that some form of beaming tool is a 
concomitant of deer skin dressing from Point Barrow 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



59 



and California (the Hupa) to Labrador, and Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The rubbing with a rough stone is the usual treat- 
ment accorded deerskins, and cannot be considered 
peculiar to the Indians of the Plains. 




Fig. 18. Fleshing Tools. 



Tailoring. The garments of the Indians of the 
Plains were simple in construction, and the cutting of 
the garment was characterized by an effort to make the 



60 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



natural shape of the tanned skin fit into the desired 
garment, with as little waste as possible. We do not 
know how skins were cut before the introduction of 
metal knives by white traders. Needles were not 
used by the women among the Plains Indians, but the 
thread was pushed through holes made with bodkins 
or awls. In former times these awls were made of 
bone; the sewing was with sinew thread made by 
shredding out the long tendons from the leg of the 
buffalo and deer. When sewing, Blackfoot women 
had at hand a piece of dried tendon from which they 
pulled the shreds with their teeth, softened them in 
their mouths and then twisted them into a thread by 
rolling between the palms of their hands. The moisten- 
ing of the sinew in the mouth not only enabled the 
women to twist the thread tightly, but also caused the 
sinew to expand so that when it dried in the stitch it 
shrank and drew the stitches tight. The ordinary 
woman's sewing outfit was carried in a soft bag of 
buffalo skin and consisted of bodkins, a piece of sinew, 
and a knife. Bodkins were sometimes carried in small 
beaded cases as shown in the exhibit. 

The Use of Rawhide. In the use of rawhide for 
binding and hafting, the Plains tribes seem almost 
unique. When making mauls and stone-headed clubs 
a piece of green or wet hide is firmly sewed on and as 
this dries its natural shrinkage sets the parts firmly. 
This is nicely illustrated in saddles. Thus, rawhide 
here takes the place of nails, twine, cement, etc., in other 
cultures. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



61 




Fig. 20. A Parfleche. 



62 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



The Parfleche. A number of characteristic bags were 
made of rawhide. The most conspicuous being the par- 
fleche. Its simplicity of construction is inspiring and 
its usefulness scarcely to be over-estimated. The ap- 
proximate form for a parfleche is shown in Fig. 19, 
and its completed form in Fig. 20. The side outlines 
as in Fig. 19 are irregular and show great variations, 
none of which can be taken as certainly characteristic. 
To fill the parfleche, it is opened out as in Fig. 19, and 
the contents arranged in the middle. The large flap 
is then brought over and held by lacing a', a". The 
ends are then turned over and laced W, b". The 
closed parfleche ma}^ then be secured by both or either 
of the looped thongs at c', c". 

Primarily, parfleche were used for holding pemmican 
(p. 26) though dried meat, dried berries, tallow, etc., 
found their way into them when convenient. In 
recent years, they seem to have more of a decorative 
than a practical value; or rather, according to our 
impression, they are cherished as mementos of buffalo 
days, the great good old time of Indian memory, 
always appropriate and acceptable as gifts. The usual 
fate of a gift parfleche is to be cut into moccasin soles. 
With the possible exception of the Osage, the parfleche 
was common among all these tribes but seldom en- 
countered elsewhere. 

Rawhide Bags. A rectangular bag (Fig. 21) was 
also common and quite uniform even to the modes of 
binding. They were used by women rather than by 
men. The larger ones may contain skin-dressing tools, 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



63 



the smaller ones, sewing or other small implements, 
etc. Sometimes, they were used in gathering berries 
and other vegetable foods. A cylindrical rawhide case 
used for headdresses and other ceremonial objects is 
characteristic (Fig. 22). All these objects made of 




Fig. 22. 

Fig. 21. Bag made of Rawhide. 
Fig. 22. A Case made of Rawhide. 



rawhide are further characterized by their highly 
individualized painted decorations (p. 120). 

Soft Bags. The Dakota made some picturesque 
soft bags, used in pairs, and called U A bag for every 
possible thing." The collection contains many fine 
examples some of which are of buffalo hide. All are 



64 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



skillfully decorated with quills or beads (Fig. 23). 
This type occurs among the Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, 
Dakota, Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ute, and Wind 
River Shoshone in almost identical form, but among the 
Nez Perce and Bannock with decided differences. 




Fig. 23. Bag decorated with Porcupine Quills and Beads. Dakota. 



Perhaps equally typical of the area were the long 
slender bags for smoking outfits. These are especially 
conspicuous in Dakota collections where they range 
from 80 to 150 cm. in length. At the ends, they have 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



65 



rows of rawhide strips wrapped with quills and below 
a fringe of buckskin (Fig. 24). The Dakota type has 
been noted among the Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Crow, 




Fig. 24. Pipe and Tobacco Bags. Dakota. 



and Hidatsa, but rarely among the Ute, Arapaho, or 
Shoshone. The Kiowa and Comanche make one, but 
with an entirely different fringe. The Blackfoot, 



66 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Northern Shoshone, Plains-Cree, and Sarsi use a 
smaller pouch of quite a different type, also reported 
from the Saulteaux and Cree of the Woodland area. 
These objects are, however, so often presented to visit- 
ing Indians that collectors find it difficult to separate 
the intrusions from the native samples for any particu- 
lar tribe. 

We have some reason for thinking that the Dakota 
type is quite recent, for the Teton claim that formerly 
the entire skins of young antelope, deer, and even birds 
and beavers were used as smoking bags. Some ex- 
amples of such bags have been collected and are quite 
frequent in the ceremonial outfits of the Blackfoot. 
Again, the collections from many tribes contain bags 
made from the whole skins of unborn buffalo and deer, 
used for gathering berries and storing dried food, from 
which it is clear that a general type of seamless bag was 
once widely used. All this raises the question as to 
whether the introduction of metal cutting and sewing 
implements during the historic period may not have 
influenced the development of these long, rectangular 
fringed pipe bags. 

The strike-a-light pouch often made of modern 
commercial leather is common to the Wind River 
She shone, Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Dakota, Gros 
Ventre, and Assiniboine (Fig. 25). Among the Ara- 
paho and Gros Ventre we also find a large pouch of 
similar designs. Again, the Northern Shoshone and 
Blackfoot are not included, neither are these pouches 
frequent among the Kiowa and Comanche. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



67 



Many of the paint bags used by the Blackfoot re- 
semble their pipe bags even to the fringe and the flaps 
at the mouth. However, many paint bags in cere- 
monial outfits are without fringes or decorations of 
any kind. Some have square cut bases and some 
curved; their lengths range from 8 to 15 cm. In some 
cases, those with square cut bases are provided with a 
pendant at each corner. Decorated paint bags of the 
fringed type occur among the Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, 



Arapaho, Sarsi, Dakota, and Shoshone. A specimen 
without the fringe appears in the Comanche collection. 
The Blackfoot, Sarsi, Gros Ventre, and Assiniboine 
use almost exclusively, bags with the flaps at the top, 
and bearing similar decorations. The Arapaho and 
Dakota incline to this type but also use those with 
straight tops. Among the Shoshone decorated paint 
bags are rare, but two specimens we have observed 
belong to these respective types. So far, it seems that 




Fig. 25. Strike-a-light Pouch. Arapaho. 



68 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



the Arapaho alone, use the peculiar paint bag with a 
triangular tail, suggesting the ornamented pendants to 
the animal skin medicine bags of the Algonkin in the 
Woodland area. However, we have seen a large bag 
of this pattern attributed to the Bannock. 

A round-bottomed pouch with a decorated field and 
a transverse fringe was sometimes used for paint by the 
Blackfoot. The decorated part is on stiff rawhide 
while the upper is of soft leather, the sides and mouth 
of which are edged by two and three rows of beads 
respectively. This seems to be an unusual form for 
the Blackfoot and rare in other collections; while the 
related form, a large rounded bag, frequently encount- 
ered in Dakota and Assiniboine collections has not been 
observed among the northern group of tribes. The 
Blackfoot collection contains two small, flat rectangular 
cases with fringes. One of these was said to have been 
made for a mirror, the other for matches. However, 
such cases were formerly used by many tribes for 
carrying the ration ticket issued by the government. 
Their distribution seems to have been general in the 
Plains. 

Some tribes used a long double saddle bag, highly 
decorated and fringed. There was usually a slit at 
one side for the horn of the saddle. So far, these have 
been reported for the Blackfoot, Sarsi, Crow, Dakota, 
and Cheyenne. They are mentioned as common in 
the Missouri Area, by Larpenteur, who implies that 
the shape is copied after those used by whites. Morice 
credits the Carrier of the Mackenzie culture area with 
similar bags used on dogs. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



69 



It will be noted that in style and range of bags and 
pouches, the village group of these Indians tends to 
stand apart from the other groups much more distinctly 
than the intermediate Plateau tribes of the west, for 
between the latter and the typical Plains tribes, there 
are few marked differences. 

Household Utensils. In a preceding section, refer- 
ence was made to baskets, which in parts of the Pla- 
teaus, often served as pots for boiling food. They were 
not, of course, set upon the fire, the water within being 
heated by hot stones. Pottery was made by the Hida- 
tsa, Mandan, and Arikara, and probably by all the 
other tribes of the village group. There is some 
historical evidence that it was once made by the Black- 
foot and there are traditions of its use among the Gros 
Ventre, Cheyenne, and Assiniboine; but with the 
possible exception of the Blackfoot, it has not been 
definitely credited to any of the nine typical tribes. 

We have no definite information as to how foods were 
boiled among these tribes before traders introduced 
kettles. Many tribes, however, knew how to hang a 
fresh paunch upon sticks and boil in it with stones 
(Fig. 26). Some used a fresh skin in a hole. Thus 
Catlin says: — 

".There is a very curious custom amongst the Assinneboins, from 
which they have taken their name; a name given them by their neigh- 
bors, from a singular mode they have of boiling their meat, which is 
done in the following manner: — when they kill meat, a hole is dug in 
the ground about the size of a common pot, and a piece of the raw hide 
of the animal, as taken from the back, is put over the hole, and then 
pressed down with the hands close around the sides, and filled with 



70 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



water. The meat to be boiled is then put in this hole or pot of water; 
and in a fire which is built near by, several large stones are heated to a 
red heat, which are successively dipped and held in the water until 




r 




Fig. 26. Boiling with Hot Stones in a Paunch supported by Sticks. 
Blackfoot. 

the meat is boiled; from which singular and peculiar custom, the Ojibe- 
w r ays have given them the appelation of Assinneboins or stone boilers. 
"The Traders have recently supplied these people with pots; and 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



71 



even long before that, the Mandans had instructed them in the secret 
of manufacturing very good and serviceable earthen pots; which to- 
gether have entirely done away with the custom, excepting at public 
festivals; where they seem, like all other things of the human family, 
to take pleasure in cherishing and perpetuating their ancient customs.' 1 
(P- 54.) 

These methods were known to the Arapaho, Crow, 
Dakota, Gros Ventre, Blackfoot, and Assiniboine. 
Doubtless they were generally practised elsewhere in 
the Plains. Since California and the whole Pacific 
coast northward as well as the interior plateaus had 
stone-boiling as a general cultural trait, this distribu- 
tion in the Plains is easily accounted for. On the other 




Fig. 27. Buffalo Horn Spoon. 



hand, the eastern United States appears as a great 
pottery area whose influence reached the village tribes. 

So excepting the pottery-making village tribes, the 
methods of cooking in the Plains area before traders 
introduced kettles seem to have comprised broiling 
over the fire, baking in holes in the ground, and boiling 
in vessels of skin, basketry, or bark. 

Buffalo horn spoons were used by all and whenever 
available ladles and dishes were fashioned from moun- 
tain sheep horn. Those of buffalo horn were used in 



72 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



eating; those of mountain sheep horn usually for 
dipping, skimming and other culinary processes. In 
making these spoons, the horn was generally scorched 
over a fire until some of the gluey matter tried out, and 
then trimmed to the desired shape with a knife. Next 
it was boiled in water until soft, when the bowl was 
shaped over a water-worn stone of suitable size and the 
handle bent into the proper shape. The sizes and forms 
of such spoons varied a great deal, but no important 
tribal differences have been observed. In traveling, 
spoons, as well as bowls, were usually carried in bags 
of buffalo skin. Among the village tribes, wooden 
spoons were common, similar to those from Woodland 
collections. Bowls were fashioned from wood but were 
rare in the Plateaus and among the southern group. 
Knots of birch and other hard wood found occasionally 
along rivers were usually used for bowls. These were 
worked into shape by burning, scraping down with bits 
of stone, and finally polishing. They were used in 
eating, each person usually owning one which he carried 
with him when invited to a feast. Occasionally, bowls 
were made of mountain sheep horn; but such were the 
exception, rather than the rule. The finest bowls 
seem to have been made by the Dakota, and the crudest 
by the Comanche and Ute. 

Tools. It is believed that formerly knives were 
made of bone and stone, but we have no very definite 
data. In fact, many tribes secured knives and other 
trade articles by barter with other Indians long before 
they were visited by explorers; hence, we have little 
in the way of historical data. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



73 



Some years ago a Museum field-worker chanced 
upon an old blind man smoothing down a walking 
stick with a stone flake, an interesting survival of 
primitive life. We can scarcely realize how quickly 
the civilized trader changed the material culture of 
the Indians. Perrqt, one of the first French explorers 
visiting the eastern border of this area gives the fol- 
lowing report of an address he made to some Fox and 
other Indians, "'I see this fine village filled with young 
men, who are, I am sure, as courageous as they are 
well built; and who will, without doubt, not fear their 
enemies if they carry French weapons. It is for these 
young men that I leave my gun, which they must 
regard as the pledge of my esteem for their valor; they 
must use it if they are attacked. It will also be more 
satisfactory in hunting cattle (buffalo) and other ani- 
mals than are all the arrows that you use. To you who 
are old men I leave my kettle; I carry it everywhere 
without fear of breaking it. You will cook in it the 
meat that your young men bring from the chase, and 
the food which you offer to the Frenchmen who come 
to visit you.' He tossed a dozen awls and knives to 
the women, and said to them: 'Throw aside your 
bone bodkins; these French awls will be much easier 
to use. These knives will be more useful to you in 
killing beavers and in cutting your meat than are the 
pieces of stone that you use.' Then, throwing to them 
some rassade (beads) : ' See ; these will better adorn 
your children and girls than do their usual ornaments. ' " 
(p. 330). This is a fair sample of what occurred every- 



74 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



where. On the other hand, the Indian did not so 
readily change his art, religion, and social customs. 

Perhaps the best early observer of primitive tools 
was Captain Lewis who writes of the Northern Sho- 
shone in the Original Journal of the Lewis and Clark 
Expedition, Vol. 3, p. 19, as follows.: — - 

"The metal which we found in possession of these people consisted 
of a few indifferent knives, a few brass kettles some arm bands of iron 
and brass, a few buttons, woarn as ornaments in their hair, a spear or 
two of a foot in length and some iron and brass arrow points which 
they informed me they obtained in exchange for horses from the Crow 
or Rocky Mountain Indians on the yellowstone River, the bridlebits 
and stirreps they obtained from the Spaniards, tho these were but few. 
many of them made use of flint for knives, and with this instrument, 
skined the animals they killed, dressed their fish and made their arrows; 
in short they used it for every purpose to which the knife is applyed. 
this flint is of no regular form, and if they can only obtain a part of it, 
an inch or two in length that will cut they are satisfyed. they renew 
the edge by flecking off the flint by means of the point of an Elk's or 
deer's horn, with the point of a deer or Elk's horn they also form their 
arrow points of the flint, with a quickness and neatness that is really 
astonishing, we found no axes nor hatchets among them; what wood 
they cut was done either with stone or Elk's horn, the latter they use 
always to rive or split their wood." 

Among the collections from the Blackfoot and Gros 
Ventre, we find models of bone knives made by old 
people who claimed to have used such (Fig. 28) . There 
are also a few flakes of stone said to have been so used 
when metal knives were not at hand. 

No aboriginal axes have been preserved but they are 
said to have been made of stone and bone. The hafted 
stone maul (Fig. 4) is everywhere present and we are 
told that the ax was hafted in a similar manner. Drill- 
ing was performed with arrow points and wood was 
dressed by stone scrapers. 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



75 



Though we may be sure that the tribes of the Plains 
were, like those in most parts of prehistoric America, 
living in a stone age at the time of discovery, it is 
probable that they made some use of copper. The 
eastern camps of the Santee-Dakota were near the 
copper mines of Lake Superior and in 1661 Radisson, 
a famous explorer, saw copper ornaments while among 
their villages in Minnesota. In the North American 
Archaeological Hall may be seen a representative col- 
lection of copper implements from Minnesota and 
Wisconsin but such objects are rare within the Plains 




Fig. 28. Bone Knife. 



area. Yet, all these implements were of pure copper 
and therefore too soft to displace stone and bone, the 
Plains Indian at all events living in a true stone age 
culture. 

Digging Stick. From a primitive point of view, the 
digging stick is most interesting. It has been reported 
from the Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Hidatsa, Mandan, 
and Dakota as a simple pointed stick, used chiefly 
in digging edible roots and almost exclusively by women. 
(It is important to note the symbolic survival of this 
implement in the sun dance bundle of the Blackfoot, 
p. 110.) Some curious agricultural implements are 



INDIANS OF THE PLAIXS. 



to be found in the Hidatsa collection, especially hoes 
made from the shoulder blades of buffalo. The latter 
have been reported from the Pawnee, Arikara, and 
Mandan. 

Pipes. The Santee-Dakota have long been famous 
for the manufacture of pipes from catlinite or red pipe- 
stone which even in prehistoric times seems to have 
been distributed by trade. Some pipes in the Museum 
were collected in 1840 and are of the types described 
by Catlin and other early writers. Many of the 
village tribes used pottery pipes. Among the Assini- 
boine, Gros Ventre, and Blackfoot, a black stone was 
used for a Woodland type of pipe. In the Plateaus, 
the pipes were smaller than elsewhere and usually 
made from steatite. The Hidatsa and Mandan used 
a curiously shaped pipe, as may be seen from the 
collection. It is much like the Arapaho sacred tribal 
flat pipe. Occasionally, a straight tubular pipe was 
used. Among the Cheyenne in particular, this was a 
bone reinforced with sinew. Also, it seems to have 
been generally known to the Kiowa and Arapaho. 
Among the Blackfoot and Dakota, it is usually a simple 
stone tube with a stem. The form is everywhere 
exceptional and usually ceremonial. 

The large medicine-pipe, or ceremonial, of the Black- 
foot Indians, conspicuously displayed in the hall is 
scarcely to be considered under this head (see p. 104), 
as also the curious pipe- like 'wands of the Dakota, the 
Omaha (Demuth collection), and Pawnee. 

Tobacco was raised (p. 29) by a few tribes. This 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



77 



was mixed with the dried bark of the red willow, the 
leaves of the bear berry or with larb. Some wild 
species of Nicotiana were gathered by the Plateau tribes. 
In literature, the term kinnikinnick (Algonkin 0 jib way, 
meaning "what is mixed") is applied to this mixture. 
From the very first, traders introduced commercial 
forms of tobacco which have been in general use ever 
since. 

Weapons. Reference has been made to bows, clubs, 
and lances (p. 24) for killing buffalo; hence, it is only 
necessary to add that they were also the chief weapons 
in war. Among nearly all the tribes a circular shield 
of buffalo hide was used, though with so many ceremo- 
nial associations, that it is not clear whether the Indian 
prized it most for its charm value or for its mechanical 
properties, since in most cases he seems to have placed 
his faith in the powers symbolized in the devices painted 
thereon. No armor seems to have been used. The 
typical Plains Indian rode into battle, stripped to 
breech cloth and moccasins, with whatever symbolic 
head gear, charms, and insignia he was entitled to. 
However, the Blackfoot have traditions of having 
protected themselves from arrows by several skin 
shirts, one over the other, while among the Northern 
Shoshone, both men and horses were protected by 
"many folds of dressed antelope skin united with glue 
and sand." The Pawnee have also been credited with 
hardened skin coats. Since armor and helmets were 
used in some parts of the North Pacific Coast area 
and in parts of the Plateaus, it is natural to encounter 



78 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



it on the northwestern margin of the Plains. Poisoned 
arrows have been credited to the Plateau tribes. 

Games. Amusements and gambling are represented 




Fig. 29. A Buffalo Hide Shield from the Northern Blackfoot. 



in collections by many curious devices. Adults rarely 
played for amusement, leaving such pastime to children; 
they themselves played for stakes. Most American 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



79 



games are more widely distributed than many other 
cultural traits; but a few seem almost entirely peculiar 
to the Plains. 

A game in which a forked anchor-like stick is thrown 
at a rolling ring was known to the Dakota, Omaha, 
and Pawnee. So far, it has not been reported from 
other tribes. 

Another game of limited distribution is the large 
hoop with a double pole, the two players endeavoring 
to place the poles so that when the hoop falls, it will 
make a count according to which of the four marks in 
the circumference are nearest a pole. This has been 
reported for the Arapaho, Dakota, and Omaha. 
Among the Dakota, this game seems to have been 
associated with magical ceremonies for " calling the 
buffalo" and also played a part in the ghost dance 
(p. 113) movement. The Arapaho have also a sacred 
game hoop associated with the sun dance. Other 
forms of this game in which a single pole is used have 
been reported from almost every tribe in the Plains. 
It occurs also outside this area. Yet, in the Plains 
it takes special forms in different localities. Thus the 
Blackfoot and their neighbors use a very small spoked 
ring with an arrow for the pole, the Mandan used a 
small plain ring but with a very long pole, while the 
Comanche used a large life-preserver like hoop with a 
sectioned club for a pole. 

The netted hoop at which darts were thrown is 
almost universal in the Plains, but occurs elsewhere as 
well. Other popular games were stick dice, and the 



80 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



hand game (hiding the button) . Among the Blackf oot 
and their neighbors, the hand game was a favorite 
gambling device and handled by team work: i. e., one 
large group played against another. 

By a comparative study of games, it would be possible 
to divide the tribes of the area into a number of sub- 
geographical groups. On the other hand, it is clear 
that taken as a whole, these tribes have sufficient 
individuality to justify their position in a distinct 
culture area. 

We have now passed in review the main character- 
istics of material culture among the Plains tribes. 
There are many other important details having func- 
tional and comparative significance for whose consid- 
eration the reader must be referred to the special 
literature. We have seen how the typical, or central 
group, of tribes (Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, 
Crow, Teton-Dakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, 
and Comanche) seems to have few traits in common 
with adjoining culture areas, while the border tribes 
manifest a mixture of the traits emphasized among 
the typical group and those most characteristic of 
other culture areas. For example, the typical material 
culture of the Plains is peculiar in the absence of pot- 
tery, the textile arts, agriculture, and the use of wild 
grains and seeds, all of which appear to varying degrees 
in one or the other of the marginal groups. 

In general, it appears that in the Plains, traits of 
material culture fall within geographical rather than 



MATERIAL CULTURE. 



81 



linguistical and political boundaries. While all cultural 
traits seem to show the same tendency, this is most 
pronounced in material culture. Thus, from the point 
of view of this chapter the Plains-Cree may merit a 
place in the typical group, but in some other respects 
hold an intermediate position. The Sarsi and Kiowa- 
Apache have the typical culture, but as they are very 
small groups and culturally dominated by the Blackfoot 
and Kiowa respectively, they were not given separate 
designation. All the other tribes without exception 
manifest some traits of material culture found in other 
areas. 

In part the causes for the observed greater uniformity 
in material culture seem to lie in the geographical 
environment, since food, industries, and some house- 
hold arts are certain to be influenced by the character 
of the materials available. This, however, cannot be the 
whole story, for pottery clay is everywhere within easy 
reach, yet the typical tribes were not potters. They 
also wanted not the opportunities to learn the art from 
neighboring tribes. It seems more probable that cer- 
tain dominant factors in their lives exercised a selec- 
tive influence over the many cultural traits offered at 
home and abroad, thus producing a culture well adapted 
to the place and to the time. 



Chapter II. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 

Museum collections cannot illustrate this important 
phase of culture; but since no comprehensive view of 
the subject can be had without its consideration, we 
must give it some space. It is customary to treat of all 
habits or customs having to do with the family organi- 
zation, the community and what we call the state, under 
the head of social organization. So, in order that the 
reader may form some general idea of social conditions 
in this area, we shall review some of the discussed points. 
Unfortunately, the data for many tribes are meager so 
that a complete review cannot be made. The Black- 
foot, Sarsi, Crow, Northern Shoshone, Nez Perce, 
Assiniboine, Teton-Dakota, Omaha, Hidatsa, Arapaho, 
Cheyenne, and Kiowa have been carefully investigated, 
but of the remaining tribes, we know very little. 

As previously stated, it is customary to accept the 
political units of the Indian as tribes or independent 
nations. Thus, while the Crow recognize several 
subdivisions, they feel that they are one people and 
support a council or governing body for the whole. The 
Blackfoot, on the other hand, are composed of three 

82 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



83 



distinct political divisions, the Piegan, Blood, and 
Blackfoot, with no superior government, yet they feel 
that they are one people with common interests and 
since they have a common speech and precisely similar 
cultures, it is customary to ignore the political units 
and designate them by the larger term. The Hidatsa, 
one of the village group, have essentially the same 
language as the Crow, but have many different traits of 
culture and while conscious of a relationship, do not 
recognize any political sympathies. Again, in the 
Dakota, we have a more complicated scheme. They 
recognize first seven divisions as " council fires": 
Mdewakanton, Wahpeton, Wahpekute, Sisseton, Yank- 
ton, Yanktonai, and Teton. These, as indicated by 
separate fires, were politically independent, but did 
not make war upon each other. To the whole, they 
gave the name Dakota, or, those who are our friends. 
Again, they grouped the first four into a larger whole, 
the Santee-Dakota (Isanyati), the Yankton and Yank- 
tonai formed a second group and the Teton a third. 
However, the culture of the second and third groups is 
so similar that it is quite admissible to include them 
under the title Teton-Dakota. All the seven divisions 
were again subdivided, especially the Teton which had 
at least eight large practically independent divisions. 

Thus, it is clear, that no hard and fast distinctions 
can be made between independent and dependent 
political units, for in some cases the people feel as if one 
and yet support what seem to be separate governments.. 
This is not by any means peculiar to the Plains. Since 



84 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



anthropology, is, after all, chiefly a study of culture, 
it is usual to place under one head all units having 
exactly the same culture when otherwise closely related 
by language and blood. Our previous list of tribes, 
therefore, represents those of approximately equal 
cultural values for the whole series of traits (p. 17). 

Using tribe to designate units with independent 
governing bodies, we find that these tribes are in turn 
composed of small units, each under the leadership of a 
chief, seconded by a few head men. These subdivisions 
are often designated in technical literature as bands — 
a chief and his followers. It frequently happens that 
the members of these bands inherit their memberships 
according to a fixed system. When this is reckoned 
through the mother, or in the female line, the term clan 
is used instead of band; when reckoned in the male 
line, gens. The clans and gentes of the Plains are of 
special interest because of the tendency to regulate 
marriage so that it must be exogamic, or between 
individuals from different clans and gentes and also 
because of the difficulty in discovering whether this is 
due to the mere accident of blood relationship or some 
other obscure tendency. On this point, there is a 
large body of special literature. 

An exogamic gentile system has been reported for 
the Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Oto, Missouri, Osage, and 
Kansas. An exogamic clan system prevails among the 
Hidatsa, Crow, and probably among the Mandan. 
Among the Plateau group, the Arapaho, Kiowa, 
Comanche, Assiniboine, and probable also among the 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



85 



Teton-Dakota and Plains-Cree we have only bands 
without marriage restrictions. In addition, we have 
some problematical cases in the Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, 




Fig. 30. The Cheyenne Camp Circle. (Dorsey.) 

and perhaps others, where there seems to be a tendency 
toward a gentile exogamous system, but our data are 
not sufficiently full to determine whether these are 
intermediate or true transitional types. 



86 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



The Camp Circle. 

Among the typical tribes and even in most places 
where tipis were used, we find an organized camp, or 
circle. In its pure form, this is a tribal scheme by 
which each "band" has a fixed place or order, generally 
enumerated sunwise, from the opening of the circle 
in the easternmost segment (Fig. 30). When forming 
a camp, the leaders selected the site and marked off 
the two sides of the opening, or gap, whence the respec- 
tive bands fell-in in proper order and direction to form 
the circle. At the center was a council tent, where the 
governing body met and at symmetrical points were the 
tipis of the " soldiers," or police. While the camp circle 
was the most striking and picturesque trait of Plains 
culture, it was probably no more than a convenient 
form of organized camp for a political group composed 
of " bands." It is likely that some of the typical tribes 
developed it first, whence, because of its practical 
value, it was adopted by the others and even some of 
the village and Plateau tribes when they used tipis. 
It is, however, peculiar to the Plains. 

Marriage. 

There seems to be nothing distinctive in the marriage 
customs of the Plains, even in the matter of exogamy 
(p. 84). A man was permitted to marry as many 
women as he desired, yet relatively few men had more 
than three wives. Everywhere the rule was to marry 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



87 



sisters, if possible, since it is said they were less likely 
to quarrel amongst themselves. As no slaves were 
kept and servants were unknown, the aristocratic 
family could only meet the situation by increasing 
the number of wives. Further, it was usual to regard 
the first wife as the head of the family, the others as 
subordinate. 

The care and rearing of children is a universal phase 
of human life. Among the collections will be found 
cradles, or carriers, for the protection of the newly 
born, often highly ornamented. Dolls and minia- 
ture objects such as travois, saddles, and bags, were 
common as toys and often find their way into museums. 
(For a special exhibit see the Children's Room.) A 
curious custom, not confined to the Plains, was to 
preserve the navel cord in a small ornamented pouch, 
hung to the cradle or about the neck of the child. 
Among the Dakota, these usually took the forms of 
turtles and lizards, among the Blackfoot, snakes 
and horned-toads, etc. Examples are shown in the 
various collections. 

Naming children is everywhere an important matter. 
Usually an old person is called in to do this and selects 
a single name. When a boy reaches adolescence, a new 
name is often given and again, if as an adult, he per- 
forms some meritorious deed. Girls seldom change 
their names, not even at marriage. Among many 
tribes there are special ceremonies for girls when 
adolescence sets in. 

When an Indian is ill a doctor is called in. He is 



88 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



supposed to have received power from some supernatu- 
ral source and sings songs and prays at the bedside. 
Sometimes vegetable substances are given as medicine, 
but these are usually harmless, the faith being placed 
entirely in the religious formula. 

At death the body was dressed and painted, then 
wrapped in a robe and placed upon a scaffold, in a tree, 
or upon a hill. None of the Plains tribes seem to have 
practised cremation and but a few of them placed 
the bodies under ground. In fact, the Government 
authorities still have great difficulty in inducing the 
modern Indians to inter their dead, as it is against their 
belief, in that it would interfere with the passage of 
the spirit to the other world. 

Government. 

The political organization was rather loose and 
in general quite democratic. Each band, gens, or 
clan informally recognized an indefinite number of 
men as head men, one or more of whom were formally 
vested with representative powers in the tribal council. 
Among the Dakota, there was a kind of society of older 
men, self-electing, who legislated on all important 
matters. They appointed four of their number to 
exercise the executive functions. The Omaha had a 
somewhat similar system. The Cheyenne had four 
chiefs of equal rank and a popularly elected council 
of forty members. Among the Blackfoot we seem to 
have a much less systematic arrangement, the leading 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



89 



men of each band forming a general council which 
in turn recognized one individual as chief. In the 
Plateaus the Northern Shoshone, at least, had even a 
less formal system. 

Though there were in the plains some groups spoken 
of as confederacies by pioneers; viz., the Blackfoot, 
Sarsi, and Gros Ventre; the seven Dakota tribes; the 
Pawnee group; the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and 
Comanche, none of these seem to have been more 
than alliances. At least, there was nothing like the 
celebrated League of the Iroquios in the Woodland 
area. In general, the governments of the Plains were 
in no wise peculiar. 

Soldier Bands, or Societies. 

We have previously mentioned the camp police. 
The Dakota governing society, for example, appointed 
eight or more men as soldiers or marshals to enforce 
their regulations at all times. There were also a num- 
ber of men's societies or fraternities of a military and 
ceremonial character upon any one or more of which 
the tribal government might also call for such service. 
As these societies had an organization of their own, it 
was only necessary to deal with their leaders. The 
call to service was for specific occasions and the particu- 
lar society selected automatically ceased to act when 
the occasion passed. The Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, 
Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Hidatsa, Man- 
dan, and Arikara, also had each a number of societies 




Fig. 3L Dog Society Dancer. Arapaho. 



90 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



91 



upon whom the governing body called for police service. 
In addition to these specific parallels, we find that all 
tribes using the camp circle, or organized camp, when 
hunting buffalo, also appointed police who executed 
orders in a similar manner. Among the tribes having 
soldier societies we again find certain marked simi- 
larities in the current names for these organizations 
as shown in the following partial list, compiled by Dr. 
R. H. Lowie: — 



Mandan 



Havens 
Half-Shorn 

Heads 
Foolish Dogs 

Dogs (?) 
Old Dogs 

Soldiers 
Buffaloes 



Hidatsa 
Kit-foxes 



Ravens 
Half-Shorn 

Heads 
Crazy Dogs 

Small Dogs 
Dogs 

Enemies 
Bulls 



Arikara 
Foxes 



Crows 



Piegan 
Kit-foxes 

Mosquitoes 
Ravens 



Mad Dogs Crazy Dogs 



Young Dogs 
Big Young 
Dogs (?) 

Soldiers \ 



Dogs 

Braves (?) 
Soldiers (?) 



Gros 

Arapaho Ventre 
Kit-foxes Kit- 
foxes 
Flies 



Crazy 
Lodge 

Dogs 



Crazy 
Lodge 

Dogs 



Mad Bulls Bulls 



It will be noted that a mad or foolish society is found 
in each of the six tribes as is also a dog society, while 
the kit-fox and the raven are common to a number. 
Investigations of these organizations have shown that 
though those bearing similar names are not exact dupli- 
cates, they nevertheless have many fundamental ele- 
ments in common. 

The most probable explanation of this correspon- 
dence in name and element is that each distinct society 
had a common origin, or that the bulls, for example, 



92 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



were created by one tribe and then passed on to others. 
This is an important point because among anthropolo- 
gists there are two extreme theories to account for 
similarities in culture, one that all like cultural traits 
wherever found had a common origin, the other that 
all were invented or derived independently by the 
tribes practising them. The former is often spoken 
of as the diffusion of cultural traits, the latter as inde- 
pendent development. It is generally agreed, how- 
ever, that most cultures contain traits acquired by 
diffusion (or borrowing) as well as some entirely original 
to themselves, the whole forming a complex very 
difficult to analyze. Returning to these Plains Indian 
societies we find among several tribes (Blackfoot, 
Gros Ventre, Arapaho, Mandan, and Hidatsa) an 
additional feature in that the societies enumerated in 
our table are arranged in series so that ordinarily a man 
passes from one to the other in order like school children 
in their grades, thus automatically grouping the mem- 
bers according to age. For this variety, the term age- 
society has been used by Dr. Kroeber. Thus, it 
appears that while in certain general features, the 
soldier band system of police is found among all tribes 
in the area, there are many other interesting differences 
distributed to varying extents. For example, the age 
grouping is common to but five tribes while among the 
Arapaho it takes a special form, the age grouping being 
combined with appropriate ceremonial, or dancing 
functions, including practically all the adult males in 
the tribe. An unusually complete set of the regalia 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



93 



of the Arapaho series is exhibited in the Museum and 
from the Gros Ventre, a related tribe, is shown the 
only known specimen of the peculiar shirt worn by a 
highest degree dog society member. Other regalia is 
exhibited for the Blackfoot, Crow, and Hidatsa. 

Among the Blackfoot, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Mandan, 
and Gros Ventre, we find one or more women's societies 



Fig. 32. Headdress of Buffalo Skins. Arapaho Women's Society. 

not in any way performing police functions, but still 
regarded as somehow correlated with the series for 
men. Among the Blackfoot and Arapaho, the one 
women's society is based upon mythical conceptions 
of the buffalo as is illustrated by their regalia (Fig. 32) . 
Among the Mandan, where there were several women's 
societies, we may note a buffalo organization whose 
ceremonies were believed to charm the buffalo near 




94 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 




Fig. 33. A Blackfoot War Record. Beginning at the top, we have 
Bear Chief (a) on foot surprised by Assiniboine Indians but he escaped; 
(b) Double Runner cut loose four horses; (c) Double Runner captures 
a Gros Ventre boy; (d) Double Runner and a companion encounter 
and kill two Gros Ventre, he taking a lance from one; (e) even while 
a boy Double Runner picked up a war-bonnet dropped by a fleeing 
Gros Ventre which in the system counts as a deed; (f) as a man he has 
two adventures with Crow Indians, taking a gun from one; (g) he, as 
leader, met five Flathead in a pit and killed them; (h) a Cree took 
shelter in some cherry brush in a hole, but Big Nose went in for him; 
(i) not completely shown, but representing a Cree Indian killed while 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. 



95 



when game was scarce and the tribe threatened with 
starvation. Some of their regalia will be found in the 
Museum. 

These societies for both men and women in their 
fundamental and widely distributed features, must be 
set down with the camp circle as one of the most 
characteristic social traits of the Plains. 

Social Distinction. 

There being no such thing as individual ownership of 
land, property consisted of horses, food, utensils, etc. 
These were possessed in varying degrees by the in- 
dividual members of a tribe, but in no case was the 
amount of such property given much weight in the 
determination of social position. Anyone in need of 
food, horses, or anything whatsoever, was certain to 
receive some material assistance from those who had 
an abundance. Among most tribes, the lavish giving 
away of property was a sure road to social distinction. 
Yet, the real aristocrats seem to have been those with 
great and good deeds to their credit. The Dakota, 
Blackfoot, Cheyenne, and no doubt others, had a more 
or less definite system for the grading of war deeds, 
among the highest being the "coup," or the touching 

running off Piegan horses ; ( j ) Double Runner, carrying a medicine-pipe, 
took a bow from a Gros Ventre and then killed him ; (k) Double Runner 
took a shield and a horse from a Crow tipi, a dog barked and he was 
hotly pursued; (m) he killed two Gros Ventre and took two guns; 
(n) he captured a Gros Ventre woman and a boy; (o) he took four 
mules. 



96 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



of an enemy. Curiously enough, this touching as well 
as capturing a gun was regarded by the Blackfoot, 
at least, as deserving of greater rank than the mere 
taking of an enemy's life. The Teton-Dakota, on the 
other hand, while recognizing the high value of the 
coup, also put great stress on the taking of a scalp. 
Running off, or stealing the horses of another tribe, 
was also a worthy feat among all these Indians. Among 
most tribes, it was customary at feasts and other 
gatherings for men to come forward and formally 
"count" or announce then deeds and often the quali- 
fications for various posts of honor and service were 
the possession of at least four coups. 

The social importance of such deeds naturally de- 
veloped a kind of heraldry of which the picture writing 
of the Plains tribes is an example. It was usual to 
record one's deeds on his buffalo robe, or on the sides 
of a tipi (Fig. 33). The Dakota had special rules for 
wearing eagle feathers in the hair, by which one could 
tell at a glance what deeds the wearer had performed. 
The Mandan, Assiniboine, and perhaps others, had 
similar systems. The Dakota carried the idea over 
into the decorations for horses and clothing. Even the 
designs upon their moccasins were sometimes made to 
emblazon the deeds of the wearer. 



Chapter III. 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 

The sacred beliefs of these Indians are largely 
formulated and expressed in sayings and narratives 
having some resemblance to the legends of European 
peoples. Large collections of these tales and myths 
have been collected from the Blackfoot, Nez Perce, 
Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Arapaho, Arikara, Pawnee, 
Omaha, Northern Shoshone, and less complete series 
from the Dakota, Crow, Cheyenne, and Ute. In these 
will be found much curious and interesting information. 
Each tribe in this area has its own individual beliefs 
and sacred myths, yet many have much in common, 
the distribution of the various incidents therein forming 
one of the important problems in anthropology. 

Mythology. 

A deluge myth is almost universal in the Plains and 
very widely distributed in the wooded areas as well. 
Almost everywhere it takes the form of having the 
submerged earth restored by a more or less human 
being who sends down a diving bird or animal to obtain 

97 



98 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



a little mud or sand. Of other tales found both within 
and without the Plains area we may mention, the 
"Twin-heroes," the "Woman who married a star and 
bore a Hero," and the "Woman who married a Dog." 
Working out the distribution of such myths is one of 
the fascinating tasks of the folklorist and will some 
time give us a clearer insight into the prehistoric cul- 
tural contacts of the several tribes. A typical study 
of this kind by Dr. R. H. Lowie will be found in the 
Journal of American Folk-Lore, September, 1908, 
where, for example, the star-born hero is traced through 
the Crow, Pawnee, Dakota, Arapaho, Kiowa, Gros 
Ventre, and Blackfoot. Indian mythologies often 
contain large groups of tales each reciting the adven- 
tures of a distinguished mythical hero. In the Plains, 
as elsewhere, we find among these a peculiar character 
with supernatural attributes, who transforms and in 
some instances creates the world, who rights great 
wrongs, and corrects great evils, yet who often stoops 
to trivial and vulgar pranks. Among the Blackfoot, 
for instance, he appears under the name of Napiw a , 
white old man, or old man of the dawn. He is dis- 
tinctly human in form and name. The Gros Ventre, 
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Hidatsa, and Mandan seem to 
have a similar character in their mythology. In the 
Plateau area to the west, this character is usually given 
the animal name and attributes of a coyote, and appears 
in the Plains among the Crow, Nez Perce, and the 
Shoshone. Again, the Assiniboine, Dakota, and Omaha 
give him a spider-like character (Unktomi). On the 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



99 



other hand, coyote tales appear among the Pawnee, 
Arikara, and occasionally among the Dakota, but as 
the adventures of a minor character. Among the 
Omaha and some neighboring tribes, the rabbit is a 
secondary trickster. Since the rabbit is prominent 
in the myths of the Cherokee of the Southeastern area 
and the coyote among the Plateau tribes, it seems safe 
to explain their occasional presence in the Plains as 
due to borrowing. Thus, taking the trickster alone 
it is possible to form clearly defined cultural groups 
in the Plains. 

Animal tales are also common among the Indian 
tribes. Among these, as in most every part of the 
world, we find curious ways of explaining the structural 
peculiarities of animals as due to some accident; for 
example, the Blackfoot trickster in a rage tried to pull 
the lynx asunder whence that animal now has a long 
body and awkward legs. Such explanations abound 
in all classes of myths and are considered primary and 
secondary according to whether they directly explain 
the present phenomena as in the case of the lynx, or 
simply narrate an anecdote in which the transforma- 
tion is a mere incident. Occasionally, one meets with 
a tale at whose ending the listener is abruptly told that 
thenceforth things were ordered so and so, the logical 
connection not being apparent. Probably what hap- 
pens here is that the native author knowing it to be 
customary to explain similar phenomena by mythical 
occurrences, rather crudely adds the explanation to a 
current tale. However, not all the animal tales of the 



100 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Plains function as explanations of origin and trans- 
formation, for there are tales in which supernatural 
beings appear in the form of well-known animals and 
assist or grant favors to human beings. The buffalo 
is a favorite character and is seldom encountered in 
the mythology from other areas. The bear, beaver, 
elk, eagle, owl, and snake are frequently referred to but 
also occur in the myths of Woodland and other tribes. 
Of imaginary creatures the most conspicuous are the 
water monster and the thunder bird. The former is 
usually an immense horned serpent who keeps under 
water and who fears the thunder. The thunder bird 
is an eagle-like being who causes thunder. 

Migration legends and those accounting for the 
origins and forms of tribal beliefs and institutions make 
up a large portion of the mythology for the respective 
tribes and must be carefully considered in formulating 
a concept of the religion and philosophy of each. 

Religious Concepts. 

To most of us the mention of religion brings to mind 
notions of God, a supreme over-ruling and decidedly 
personal being. Nothing just like this is found among 
the Indians. Yet, they seem to have formulated rather 
complex and abstract notions of a controlling power or 
series of powers pervading the universe. Thus, the 
Dakota use a term wakan tanka which seems to mean, 
the greatest sacred ones. The term has often been 
rendered as the great mystery but that is not quite 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



101 



correct. It is true that anything strange and mysteri- 
ous is pronounced wakan, or as having attributes 
analogous to wakan tanka; but this seems to mean 
supernatural. The fact is, as demonstrated by Dr. 
J. R. Walker, that the Dakota do recognize a kind 
of hierarchy in which the Sun stands first, or as one of 
the wakan tanka. Of almost equal rank is the Sky, the 
Earth, and the Rock. Next in order is another group 
of four, the Moon (female), Winged-one, Wind and the 
" Mediator" (female). Then come inferior beings, 
the buffalo, bear, the four winds and the whirlwind; 
then come four classes or groups of beings and so on 
in almost bewildering complexity. So far as we know, 
no other Plains tribe has worked out quite so complex 
a conception. The Omaha wakonda is in a way like 
the Dakota wakan tanka. The Pawnee recognized 
a dominating power spoken of as tirawa, or, " father," 
under whom were the heavenly bodies, the winds, the 
thunder, lightning, and rain. The Blackfoot resolved 
the phenomena of the universe into " powers," the 
greatest and most universal of which was natosiwa, 
or sun power. The sun was in a way a personal god 
having the moon for his wife and the mornings tar for 
his son. Unfortunately, we lack data for most tribes, 
this being a point peculiarly difficult to investigate. 
One thing, however, is suggested. There is tendency 
here to conceive of some all-pervading force or element 
in the universe that emanates from an indefinite source 
to which a special name is given, which in turn becomes 
an attribute applicable to each and every manifesta- 



102 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



tion of this conceivedly divine element. Probably 
nowhere, not even among the Dakota, is there a clear 
cut formulation of a definite god-like being with definite 
powers and functions. 

A Supernatural Helper. 

It is much easier, however, to gather reliable data 
on religious activities, or the functioning of these 
beliefs in actual life. In the Plains as well as in some 
other parts of the continent the ideal is for all males 
to establish some kind of direct relation with this divine 
element or power. The idea is that if one follows the 
proper formula, the power will appear in some human 
or animal form and will form a compact with the appli- 
cant for his good fortune during life. The procedure 
is usually for a youth to put himself in the hands of a 
priest, or shaman, who instructs him and requires him 
to fast and pray alone in some secluded spot until the 
vision or dream is obtained. In the Plains such an 
experience results in the conferring of one or more songs, 
the laying on of certain curious formal taboos, and of 
the designation of some object, as a feather, skin, shell, 
etc. to be carried and used as a charm or medicine 
bundle. This procedure has been definitely reported 
for the Sarsi, Plains-Cree, Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, 
Crow, Hidatsa, Mandan, Dakota, Assiniboine, Omaha, 
Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Pawnee. It is proba- 
bly universal except perhaps among the Ute, Shoshone, 
and Nez Perce. We know also that it is frequent 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



103 



among the Woodland Cree, Menornini, and 0 jib way. 
Aside from hunger and thirst, there was no self 
torture except among the Dakota and possibly a few 
others of Siouan stock. With these it was the rule 
for all desiring to become shamans, or those in close 
rapport with the divine element, to thrust skewers 
through the skin and tie themselves up as in the sun 
dance, to be discussed later. Now, when a Blackfoot, 
a Dakota, or an Omaha went out to fast and pray 
for such a revelation, he called upon all the recog- 
nized mythical creatures, the heavenly bodies, and 
all in the earth and in the waters, which is consistent 
with the conceptions of an illy localized power or 
element manifest everywhere. No doubt this applies 
equally to all the aforesaid tribes. If this divine 
element spoke through a hawk, for example, the 
applicant would then look upon that bird as the 
localization or medium for it; and for him, wakonda, 
or what not, was manifest or resided therein; but, of 
course, not exclusively. Quite likely, he would keep 
in a bundle the skin or feathers of a hawk that the 
divine presence might ever be at hand. This is why 
the warriors of the Plains carried such charms into battle 
and looked to them for aid. It is not far wrong to say 
that all religious ceremonies and practices (all the 
so-called medicines of the Plains Indians) originate 
and receive their sanction in dreams or induced visions, 
all, in short, handed down directly by this wonderful 
vitalizing element. 



Fig. 34. Medicine-pipe and Bundle. 

104 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



105 



Medicine Bundles. 

In anthropological literature it is the custom to use 
the term medicine in a technical sense, meaning any- 
thing that manifests the divine element. Among the 
Blackfoot, Arapaho, Crow, Kiowa, Hidatsa, and Man- 
dan especially and to varying extent among the other 
tribes of the Plains, the men made extraordinary use 
of these charms or amulets, which were after all little 
medicine bundles. A man rarely went to war or en- 
gaged in any serious undertaking without carrying and 
appealing to one or more of these small bundles. They 
usually originated as just stated, in the dreams or 
visions of so-called medicinemen who gave them out 
for fees. With them were often one or more songs 
and a formula of some kind. Examples of these may 
be seen in the Museum's Blackfoot collections, where 
they seem most highly developed. 

In addition to these many small individual and more 
or less personal medicines, many tribes have more 
pretentious bundles of sacred objects which are seldom 
opened and never used except in connection with 
certain solemn ceremonies. We refer to such as the 
war bundles of the Osage and Pawnee, the medicine 
arrows of the Cheyenne, the sacred pipe and the wheel 
of the Arapaho, the "taimay" image of the Kiowa, the 
Okipa drums of the Mandan, and the buffalo calf pipe 
of the Dakota. In addition to these very famous ones, 
there are numerous similar ones owned by individuals, 
especially among the Blackfoot, Crow, Sarsi, Gros 




106 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



107 



Ventre, Omaha, Hidatsa, and Pawnee. The best 
known type of bundle is the medicine-pipe which is 
highly developed among the Blackfoot and their 
immediate neighbors. In the early literature of the 
area frequent reference is made to the calumet, or in 
this case, a pair of pipestems waved and sung in con- 
nection with a ritual binding the participants in a firm 
brotherhood. This is reported among the Pawnee, 
Omaha, Ponca, Mandan, and the Dakota, and accord- 
ing to tradition originated with the Pawnee. The use 
of either type seems not to have reached the Plateau 
tribes. One singular thing is that in all these medicine- 
pipes, it is the stem that is sacred, often it is not even 
perforated, is frequently without a bowl, and in any 
event rarely actually smoked. It is thus clear that 
the whole is highly symbolic. 

The war and clan bundles of the Osage and Pawnee 
have not been investigated but seem to belong to a 
type widely distributed among the Sauk and Fox, 
Menomini, and Winnebago of the Woodland area. 
Among the Blackfoot, there is a special development 
of the bundle scheme in that they recognize the power 
of transferring all bundles and amulets to another 
person together with the compact between the divine 
element. The one receiving the bundle pays a hand- 
some sum to the former owner. This buying and selling 
of medicines is so frequent that many men have at one 
time and another owned all the types of bundles in the 
tribe. 

In the Museum collections are a few important 




108 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



109 



bundles, a medicine-pipe and a sun dance bundle 
(natoas) from the Blackfoot, the latter a very sacred 
thing; an Arapaho bundle; and the sacred image used 
in the Crow sun dance. To them the reader is referred 
for further details. 

Tribal Ceremonies. 

In addition to the above ceremonial practices, there 
.are a number of procedures deserving special mention. 
Most tribes had a series of ceremonies for calling the 
buffalo and inducing them to enter the pound or to 
permit themselves to be easily taken by the hunters. 
These have not been satisfactorily investigated but 
seem to have varied a great deal probably because this 
function was usually delegated to a few tribal shamans 
each of whom exercised his own special formulae. 
The Crow, the Blackfoot, and perhaps a few other 
tribes had elaborate tobacco planting ceremonies. 
The Pawnee formerly sacrificed a captured maiden 
in a ceremony to propitiate the growing of maize and 
some of the maize-growing tribes in this area are 
credited with a " green corn" or harvest dance, a 
characteristic of the tribes east of the Mississippi. 
The Ponca also maintained some curious star cere- 
monies having a vague resemblance to certain " Night 
chants" of the Navajo of the Southwest. Turning 
from these rather exceptional practices, we find certain 
highly typical ceremonies. 

The Sun Dance. One of the most important tribal 




Fig. 37. 



Digging Stick and Case for Blackfoot Sun Dance Bundle ~ 

110 



Fig. 38. Sun Dance Headdress. Blackfoot. 
Ill 



112 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



ceremonies is the so-called sun dance. The name as 
used in literature is probably derived from the Dakota 
who speak of one phase of the ceremony as sun-gaze- 
dancing: i. e., the worshiper gazes steadily at the sun 
while dancing. To a greater or less extent, this is 
one of the objective features of the ceremony wherever 
performed and is associated with a torture feature in 
which skewers are thrust through the skin of the breast 
and back and the devotee suspended or required to 
dance until the skin gives way, all the time supplicating 
the sun for divine guidance. 

Another feature is that in the center of the ceremonial 
place is set up a tree, or sun pole, which is scouted for, 
counted coup upon, and felled, as if it were an enemy. 
Upon this, offerings of cloth are made to the sun. In 
the fork at the top is usually a bunch of twigs, in some 
cases called the nest of the thunder bird. 

The time of the sun dance is in midsummer. It is 
usually initiated by the vow of a man or woman to make 
it as a sacrifice in return for some heeded prayer in 
time of great danger. The soldier societies, the 
women's society, and other organizations, generally 
take turns dancing at the sun pole after the above 
named rites have been concluded. The ceremony is 
decidedly a Plains characteristic. As a rule all who 
perform important functions in the sun dance are 
required to spend several days in fasting and other 
purification ceremonies. 

The sun dance has been reported for all the tribes 
of this area except the Comanche, Omaha, Iowa, Kan- 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



113 



sas, Missouri, Osage, Oto, Wichita, Bannock, and Nez 
Perce: that even some of these formerly practised it, 
is probable. Like soldier societies (p. 89), the sun 
dance presents several features variously combined 
and distributed. These are the torture, the circular 
shelter of poles, the use of a sacred bundle, the erection 
of a sun pole, and the dancing ceremonies. The form 
of shelter shown in the Arapaho model has been ob- 
served among the Arapaho, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, 
Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Sarsi, Plains-Cree, and Hidatsa. 
With the possible exception of the Plains-Cree all used 
a sacred bundle of some form. (For examples see the 
Blackfoot and Crow collections.) The Crow used a 
bundle containing an image, but a different form of 
shelter. The Assiniboine, Ponca, and Dakota used 
no bundles but a shelter of another type from that 
shown in the model. The torture, dancing, and the 
sun pole were common to all. 

Among the Mandan we note an unusual form of 
sun dance, known as the Okipa, fully described by 
George Catlin who visited that tribe in 1832. (See 
sketches in the Catlin collection.) 

Ghost Dance Ceremonies. Even within historic times, 
there have been several interesting religious develop- 
ments among the Plains Indians. The most noted of 
these was the ghost dance. This was a religious cere- 
mony founded upon the belief in the coming of a 
Messiah, which seems to have originated among the 
Paviotso Indians in Nevada (Plateau Area) about 1888 
and which spread rapidly among the Indians of the 



114 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Plains. The prophet of the religion was a young Paiute 
Indian (Plateau Area) who claimed to have had a 
revelation while in a delirious condition caused by an 
attack of fever. The Teton-Dakota seem to have first 
heard of the new religion in 1889 and in a council held 
by Red-cloud, appointed a committee to visit the 
prophet and investigate. On this committee were 
Short -bull and Kicking-bear, who returned very enthu- 
siastic converts and began preaching the new religion 
among the Dakota. The principal belief was that an 
Indian Messiah was about to appear to destro} r the 
white race, and restore the buffalo with all former 
customs. As in all Indian ceremonies, dancing played 
a large part, but in this case the dancers usually fell 
into a hypnotic trance and upon recovering recounted 
their visions and supernatural experiences. All partici- 
pants were provided with decorated cloth garments 
bearing symbolic designs which were believed to have 
such relation with the coming Messiah that all who 
wore them would be protected from all harm. Among 
white people these garments were generally known as 
" bullet proof shirts'' (see Dakota collections). 

The enthusiasm over the new ghost dance religion 
spread over the several Dakota Indian reservations, 
resulting in the attempted arrest and killing of the 
famous Sitting-bull by the Indian police and hostile 
demonstrations on the Pine Ridge Reservation, under 
the leadership of Short-bull and Kicking-bear. In 
consequence, United States troops were concentrated 
on the Pine Ridge Reservation under the command of 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



115 



General Nelson A. Miles. The hostility of the Indians 
increased until December 29, 1890, when there was an 
engagement between Big-foot's band and the com- 
mand of Colonel Forsyth on Wounded Knee Creek, in 
which thirty-one soldiers and one hundred twenty-eight 
Indians were killed. In a short time after this decisive 
engagement, practically all the Indians laid down their, 
arms and abandoned the ghost dance religion. It is 
probable, however, that some of the ceremonies con- 
nected with the ghost dance religion are performed even 
to this day, since several of the leaders are still living. 




Fig. 39. Peyote Button. 



Practically all of the typical tribes (p. 18) took up 
the new beliefs about the same time but no where else 
did the excitement lead to violence. Among the 
Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Gros Ventre, the ceremonies 
still exist in a modified form, apparently combined with 
the Omaha or grass dance (p. 116). 

Peyote Worship. There are curious ceremonies con- 
nected with the eating or administering of the dried 
fruit of a small cactus (Anhalonium or Laphophora), 
native of the lower Rio Grande and Mexico. The name 



116 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



" mescal" is wrongly applied to this fruit by many 
white observers. Long ago, these ceremonies seem to 
have been known to the Kiowa and Comanche of the 
Plains and widely distributed in the Southwest and 
Mexico. The rites begin in the evening and continue 
until the following dawn, and are restricted to men. 
There is a definite ritual, a small drum and rattle of 
special form being essential. Within the last few years, 
this worship has become general among the Arapaho, 
Cheyenne, Omaha, Dakota, and Kiowa and threatens 
to supplant all other native ceremonies. It is even 
found among the Winnebago, Sauk and Fox, and 
Menomini of the Woodlands. This diffusion in his- 
toric times, makes it one of the most suggestive phe- 
nomena for students of Indian life, since it affords 
an indisputable example of culture diffusion. 

Dancing Associations. There are a number of semi- 
religious festivals or ceremonies in which a large num- 
ber of individuals participate and which seem to have 
been handed on from one tribe to another. The best 
known example of this is the Omaha or Grass dance 
which has been reported for the Arapaho, Pawnee, 
Omaha, Dakota, Crow, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and 
Blackfoot. The various tribes agree in their belief 
that this dance, and its regalia originated with the 
Pawnee. The Dakota claim to have obtained it 
directly from the Pawnee about 1870. The Arapaho 
and Gros Ventre claim to have learned it from the 
Dakota. The Gros Ventre taught it to the Blackfoot 
about 1883. Though these statements of the Indians 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



117 



are not to be taken as absolutely correct, they indicate 
that this dance is a modern innovation. Recently, 
the Blackfoot have carried the dance to the Flathead 
and Kootenai tribes to the west. 

The meetings are held at night in large circular 
wooden buildings erected for that purpose. Some of 
the dancers wear large feather bustles, called crow belts, 
and peculiar roached headdresses of hair. A feast 
of dog's flesh is served at which many members for- 
mally give away property to the poor. They even go so 
far now and then, as to formally put away a wife as 
the greatest act of self-denial. 

In the same class may be mentioned the kissing or 
hugging dance, sometimes called the Cree dance. This 
seems to have come from the north and resembles a 
form of dance once common among the half-breed 
Canadians. In the Plains, however, it has Indian 
songs and other undoubtedly native features. To 
this list may be added the tea dances, the horseback 
dances, etc. 

Among these Indians each distinct ceremony or 
dance has its own peculiar set of songs to which addi- 
tions are made from time to time. 

War and Scalp Dances. The scalp or some other 
part of the foe was often carried home and given to the 
women of the family who made a feast and danced in 
public with songs and cheers for the victors. A party 
about to go to war would gather in the evening, sing, 
dance, and observe certain religious rites to ensure 
success. In all of these there seems to have been little 
that was distinctive or peculiar to the Plains. 



118 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Ceremonial Procedure. 

It is rather difficult to satisfactorily characterize 
the many detailed ceremonies of the Plains, but some 
points are clear. In most we find an inordinate amount 
of singing, often extending over an entire day and night, 
interspersed with prayers and the handling of sacred 
objects or bundles and occasional dancing. The sweat 
house is used for preliminary purification and incense is 
burned at intervals during the ceremony. The partici- 
pants usually sit in a circle with a fire at the center. 
A man leads and has the entire direction of the ritual, 
other men and perhaps women assisting him. A kind 
of altar or earth painting is common. This is usually 
a small square of fresh earth between the leader and 
the fire upon which symbols are made by dropping 
dry paint, suggesting the sand painting of the Navajo, 
but otherwise highly individual in character. In the 
manipulation of ceremonial objects we often observe 
four movements, or three feints before anything is done. 
Again, many objects are not put down directly but 
moved around in a sunwise direction. All such manip- 
ulations are likely to be common to all ceremonies 
and therefore not distinctive or significant. 

It is not far wrong to say that all these ceremonies 
are demonstrations of the ritual associated with some 
bundle or objects and represent the original visions or 
experiences in which the whole was handed down. The 
demonstration seems to be ordered on the theory that, 
as in the original revelation, the divine element will be 



RELIGION AND CEREMONIES. 



119 



present in the objects and appurtenances thereto. 
The persons participating are rather passive. We have 
practically no attempts to impersonate and to act out 
in detail the parts played by supernatural beings. 
This is shown in the almost entire absence of masks 
and ceremonial costume. Thus, among the Indians 
of the North Pacific area, the Pueblos of the Southwest, 
and the Iroquois of the Woodlands, we find persons 
in ceremonies dressed and masked to represent the 
various gods or supernatural creatures and who act out 
parts of the ritual. Even among the Navajo and the 
Apache of the Southwest, these costumes play a con- 
spicuous part. All this is rare in the strictly religious 
ceremonies of the Plains and brings out by contrast 
what is perhaps one of their most characteristic 
features. 

Painting the face and body and the use of a pipe are 
also highly developed elements. In most cases, there 
is a distinct painting for each ceremony, again supposed 
to be according to the directions of the initial revelation. 
A lighted pipe is not only frequently passed during a 
ceremony but is also filled with ceremonial movements 
and offered with prayers to many or all of the recog- 
nized sources of the higher powers. 

The only musical instruments used in these cere- 
monies are rattles, drums, and whistles. 



Chapter IV. 



DECORATIVE AND RELIGIOUS ART. 



The Plains Indians have a well-developed decorative 
art in which simple geometric designs are the elements 
of composition. This art is primarily the work of 




Fig. 40. Types of Designs on Moccasins. (Kroeber). 

women. Clothing and other useful articles, made of 
skins, were rendered attractive by designs in beads and 

120 



DECORATIVE ART. 



121 



quills. Rawhide bags and parfleche (p. 62-4) were 
treated with a peculiar type of painting in many colors. 
Realistic art was practised chiefly by men in the record- 
ing of war deeds (p. 94) and reached a high degree of 
excellence among the Dakota and Mandan. The tech- 
nical aspect of bead and quill work of the Plains is 
quite peculiar. Formerly, there was little or none of 
the woven work so common in the Eastern Woodlands 
and the forests of Canada, the method here being to 



/\_r rL i_ M UJ A 

a a b 

o m * $ # * ^ 



c d d 



I 



m 



Fig. 41. Design Elements, Bead and Quill Embroidery. (Kroeber.) 

lay the quills on the surface of skins in large geometric 
areas. The beads now in use were introduced by 
traders and have almost displaced the original art of 
porcupine quill embroidery. 

The most numerous decorated objects in collections 
are moccasins which therefore offer an extensive design 
series. Though often examples of each design may 
be found upon the moccasins in a single tribe, the 
tendencies are always toward a few tribal types. Thus, 



122 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



the Arapaho predominate in longitudinal stripes 
(Fig. 40, a-d), the Dakota in definite figures (f, g, m, 
n, o), the Blackfoot in U-shaped figures (k), etc. 
Additional designs will be found upon leggings, bags, 
and pouches. All these designs may be resolved into 
simple geometrical elements or patterns (Fig. 41). 
Here also, tribal preferences are to be found. The 
rawhide paintings are also geometric and though the 
designs first appear quite complex, they can readily 
be resolved into triangles and rectangles. Another 




Fig. 42. Arapaho Moccasin with Symbolic Decorations. 



point of special interest is that some tribes give these 
conventionalized designs a symbolic value. This is 
particularly true of the Arapaho. 

Thus Fig. 42 shows a moccasin which is beaded 
around the edges, but has its front surface traversed 
by a number of quilled fines. The white beadwork 
represents the ground. Green zigzag lines upon it are 
snakes. The quilled lines represent sweat house poles. 
These lines are red, blue, and yellow, and the colors 
represent stones of different colors, used for producing 



DECORATIVE ART. 



123 



steam in the sweat house. At the heel of the moccasin, 
which is not shown in the figure, are two small green 
squares. These represent the blankets with which 
the sweat house is covered. 

The design of a snake was embroidered on this 
moccasin in order that the child wearing it might not 
be bitten by snakes. The symbols referring to the 
sweat house were embroidered on the moccasin in 
order that the child might grow to the age at which the 
sweat house is principally used; namely, old age. 

The Dakota also have interpretations for their 
designs but seemingly to a less degree than the Arapaho. 
Among other tribes, occasional cases of symbolism 
have been reported. In the Museum collections is a 
pair of moccasins from the Plains-Ojibway bearing 
Plains designs and accompanied by a definite symbolic 
interpretation. All this suggests that there must have 
one time been a marked undercurrent of symbolism 
in the art of the Plains. 

It was once assumed that when you found in the 
art of any people a geometric design, said to stand for 
a definite plant or animal form, the realistic drawing 
was the original form from which it was derived by a 
process of conventionalization. When we attempt to 
apply this principle to the art of the Dakota and the 
Arapaho, for instance, we find in some cases the 
same geometrical figure used by both tribes but to 
symbolize entirely different objects. We are, therefore, 
forced to assume that there is no necessary connection 
between the life history of a decorative design and the 



124 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



object it symbolizes. Plains art clearly shows that 
often along with a style of design, goes also a style or 
mode of interpretation. Since this interpretation is 
a reading-in on the part of those having such a mode, 
any vague resemblance will suffice. 




Fig. 43. Painted Designs on a Woman's Robe. Dakota. 



This is nicely illustrated in the curious U-shaped 
figure upon the beaded yokes of many woman's dresses. 
Some Teton-Dakota women once said this had always 
been known to them as representing a turtle's head and 
legs as he emerged from the lake (the beaded yoke). 



DECORATIVE ART. 



125 



Yet, somewhat similar figures occur on the dresses of 
other tribes from whom no such symbolism has been 
reported. This might be explained as brought about 
by the other tribes borrowing the pattern from the 
Teton; but when many of these garments are examined, 
we observe that often the U-shaped turn is made to 
carry the beaded border around the hairy tail of the 
deer left, or sewed, upon the skin from which the gar- 
ment was made. The tail tuft naturally falls just 
below the yoke because the dresses are fashioned by 
joining the tail ends of two skins by a yoke, or neck 
piece. Hence, it seems more probable that the pattern 
was developed as a mere matter of technique and that 
later on the Teton read into it the symbolism of the 
turtle, because of some fancied resemblance to that 
animal and because of some special appropriateness. 

The preceding remarks apply exclusively to objects 
in which the motive was chiefly decorative. There 
was another kind of art in which the motive was mainly 
religious, as the paintings upon the Blackfoot tipi, the 
figures upon the ghost dance shirts of the Dakota, etc., 
Such drawings, as with heraldry devices (p. 94) were 
almost exclusively the work of men. Another sugges- 
tive point is that this more serious art tends to be 
realistic in contrast to the highly geometric form of 
decorative art. 

In general, an objective study of this art suggests 
that the realistic, decorative and other art seem to 
have been greatly developed on the northeastern border 
of the area, while the geometric was most accentuated 



126 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



on the southwestern. Thus on the northeast beyond 
the limit of our area the Ojibway especially possessed 
a highly developed pictographic type of art while the 
Ute (Shoshone) of the extreme southwest of the area 
seem to have practised no such pictographic art but 
presented in contrast a highly developed geometric 
type both in embroidery and rawhide painting. Taking 
the Arapaho and Teton-Dakota as two intermediate 
groups, we find the former inclining to the geometric 
art of their Shoshonean neighbors, while the latter show 
almost equal proficiency in the two contrasting types. 
Thus, we seem to have two influences from opposite 
directions, reinforcing the common suggestion that 
the geometric art of this area was introduced from the 
southwestern part of the continent. 




Fig. 44. Blanket Band in Quills. Blackfoot 



Chapter V. 



LANGUAGE. 

As stated at the outset, it is customary to classify 
peoples according to their languages. The main groups 
are what are called stock languages, or families. Under 
such heads are placed all languages that seem to have 
had a common origin regardless of whether they are 
mutually intelligible or not. Thus English and German 
are distinct forms of speech, yet they are considered 
as belonging to the same stock, or family. In North 
America, there are more than fifty such families, of 
which seven have representatives in the plains. Only 
one, however, the Kiowa, is entirely confined to the 
area, though the Siouan and Caddoan are chiefly 
found within its bounds. The others (Algonkin, 
Shoshonean, Athapascan, and Shahaptian) have much 
larger representation elsewhere, which naturally leads 
us to infer that they must have migrated into the 
Plains. Though this is quite probable, it cannot be 
proven from the data at hand, except possibly for the 
Algonkin-speaking Plains-Cree, Plains-Ojibway, and 
Cheyenne, of whose recent movement out into the 
Plains, we have historic evidence. These tribes are 
of special interest to students, since in a comparatively 
short period of time, they put away most of their 
native culture and took on that of their neighbors in 
the Plains. 

127 



Indians of the Plains, according to Language. 



Siouan Language. 



Assiniboine 
Crow 



Mandan 
Missouri 



Dakota 
Hidatsa 
Iowa 



Omaha 

Osage 

Oto 



Kansas 



Ponca 



Algonkin Language. 



Arapaho 

Blackfoot 

Cheyenne 



Gros Ventre 

Plains-Cree 

Plains-Ojibway 



Caddoan Language. 

Arikara Pawnee 
Wichita 

Kiowan Language. 
Kiowa 

Shoshonean Language. 
Bannock Northern Shoshone 

Comanche Ute 

Wind River Shoshone. 

Athapascan Language. 
Kiowa-Apache Sarsi 



Shahaptian Language. 
Nez Perce 



128 



LANGUAGE. 



129 



The Athapascan-speaking Kiowa-Apache and Sarsi 
are also worthy of notice because the family to which 
they belong has representatives in five of the eight 
great culture areas into which North American cul- 
tures are localized, affording us the unique example 
of five distinct cultures with languages of the same 
family, or stock. 

Returning to our classification of Plains tribes under 
linguistic families, it may be well to note that while 
it is absolutely true that these families have nothing 
in common, the differences between the various tribes 
under the same stock are by no means equal. Thus 
while a Dakota and an Assiniboine can make them- 
selves partially understood, Dakota and Crow are so 
different that only philologists are able to discover them 
to be of the same family. On the other hand, a Crow 
and a Hidatsa could get on fairly well in ordinary 
conversation. Again, in the Algonkin group, the Ara- 
paho and Gros Ventre are conscious of having related 
languages, while the Blackfoot lived on neighborly 
terms with the latter for many years as did the Chey- 
enne with the Arapaho, not once, so far as we know, 
discovering any definite relation between their lan- 
guages. It is well to remember, therefore, that the term 
linguistic stock does not denote the language or speech 
of a particular tribe, but is a designation of the philol- 
ogists to define observed relationships in structure 
and form, and that the speech of these Indians differs 
in varying degree as one passes from one group to the 
other. Thus, the seven tribes of the Dakota form at 



130 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



least three dialectic groups: the Santee say Dakota 
and the Teton, Lakota, one always using d for the 
other's I; the Santee hda (go home), the Teton, gla 
and the Yankton kda. Even within the different 
communities of the Teton small differences are said to 
exist. Hence, the differences in speech are after all 
gradations of variable magnitude from the study of 
which philologists are able to discover relationship 
and descent, all believed to have originated from one 
now extinct mother tongue being classed under one 
family, or stock name. In short, there are no language 
characters peculiar to the Plains tribes, as is the case 
with other cultural characters. 

The foregoing remarks apply entirely to oral lan- 
guage. We must not overlook the extensive use of a 
sign language which seems to have served all the pur- 
poses of an international or inter-tribal language. The 
signs were made with the hands and fingers, but were 
not in any sense the spelling out of a spoken language. 
The language was based upon ideas alone. Had it 
been otherwise, it could not have been understood 
outside of the tribe. Though some traces of such a 
language have been met with outside of the Plains, it is 
only within the area that we find a system so well 
developed that inter-tribal visitors could be entertained 
with sign-talk on all subjects. The Crow, Kiowa, 
Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Blackfoot are generally re- 
garded as having been most proficient and the Omaha, 
Osage, Kansas and Ute, as least skillful in its use. It 
may not be amiss to add that in most tribes could be 



LANGUAGE. 



131 



found individuals priding themselves in speaking one 
or more languages. In former times, many Nez Perce, 
Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Dakota, and Mandan are said 
to have known some of the Crow language which was in 
consequence often used by traders. This, if true, was 
no doubt due to the peculiar geographical position of 
the Crow. The sign language, however, could be 
used among all tribes familiar with it and must, there- 
fore, be considered one of the striking peculiar traits of 
the Plains and an important factor in the diffusion of 
culture. 




132 




133 




134 



Chapter VI. 



PHYSICAL TYPE. 



No careful study of the physical types for the Plains 
has been made. Our general impression of the tribal 
appearance is largely influenced by hair dress, costume, 
and posture, and it is difficult to disassociate these 
externals from somatic features. Yet, a brief scrutiny 
of casts of faces or photographs usually reveals tribal 
resemblances like those we see in families among our- 
selves. As the Indians of the Plains are but a sub- 
division of the same race this is about the only difference 
that should be expected. The color tone of the skin 
(a reddish chocolate) seems about the same throughout 
the area, though perhaps lighter with occasional leanings 
toward the yellow among some Blackfoot of the north; 
yet to be exact, no color studies worthy of the name 
have been made. The hair is, like that of all Indians, 
uniformly black and straight. As to stature, they 
appear rather tall. The following average measure- 
ments have been reported. 



Millimeters 



Inches. 



Cheyenne 

Crow 

Arapaho 



1745 
1732 
1728 



68.7 
68.1 
68.03 



135 



136 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 





Millimeters 


Inches. 


T)akr>ta 


1726 


67 OQ 


JT Ictlllb- V/J 1 u w dy 




(¥7 Q 
0 / .o 


Blackfoot 


1715 


67.5 


Kiowa 


1709 


67.2 


Comanche 


1678 


66.06 



These are from the typical nomadic group of tribes 
as previously defined and with the exception of the 
Comanche are quite tall. As the figures above are 
averages, we must expect among the Cheyenne some 
very tall individuals. (Twenty per cent of those 
measured, exceeded 1820 mm.) 

On the west, the statures are less : 



Millimeters Inches 

Nez Perce 1697 66.8 

Ute 1661 65.4 

Among the village group we note: 

Millimeters Inches 

Omaha 1732 68.1 

Pawnee 1713 67.4 

Arikara 1690 66.5 



again a tendency toward tall statures. 

Looking at the faces of the various tribes, some 
general differences appear. Those of the Blackfoot, 
Plains-Cree, and Assiniboine seem rather rounded and 
delicate while those of the Dakota are longer and clear 
cut with strong lines, an eagle nose and more prominent 
cheek bones. The Pawnee again have large heavy or 



PHYSICAL TYPE. 



137 



massive faces. On none of these points, however, have 
investigations been made and it is an open question 
whether anything would be accomplished thereby other 
than the definition of minute differences. In historical 
times, at least, there was a great deal of intermarriage 
and visiting between these tribes which must have 
tended to level down somatic differences and which 
makes the successful determination of genetic relation- 
ship quite improbable. As to head form, we find an 
index of about 80 for the Ute, Cree, Dakota, Blackfoot, 
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Pawnee, and a considerably higher 
value for the Comanche, Osage, Omaha, Wichita, and 
Kiowa. 

The children of the Oglala division of the Teton- 
Dakota have been measured from year to year by Dr. 
J. R. Walker and a comparison of their averages and 
rates of growth made with white children. In general, 
there seemed to be no important differences, though the 
Olgala children were uniformly taller than white 
children as measured. 

On the whole, it cannot be said that the Indians of 
this culture area are anatomically distinct from those 
occupying some other parts of the continent. A map 
showing the distribution of physical types in North 
America would bear little resemblance either to the 
linguistic or cultural map. On the other hand, there 
seems to be a tendency toward uniformity throughout 
the Plains but due more to the fact that these tribes 
are for the most part a portion of a much larger somatic 
group. 



Chapter VII. 



ORIGINS. 

This brief sketch of the anthropology of the Plains 
naturally raises a few quite fundamental questions: 
How did these tribes come to be here? How long have 
they been here? What was the origin of their cultures? 
While no satisfactory answers can be given for these, 
some progress toward their solution has been made. 
We have seen that no definite correlation seems to 
exist between language, culture, and physical type, 
since the distribution maps for each have little in 
common. Taking the cultural classification as our 
point of view, we see that Plains Indians are not 
peculiar in stature or head form, but seem to fall into 
two unequal groups with many representatives in other 
parts of the continent. The shorter western tribes 
ranging from 165 to 170 cm. fall into a large group of 
low statures including most of the Californian, Plateau, 
North Pacific Coast, and Southeastern Areas. The 
Comanche who speak a language of Shoshonean stock 
widely distributed over the Plateau area are also 
relatively short. The greater part of the typical and 
village tribes, however, range from 170 to 175 cm., 

138 



ORIGINS. 



139 



including the Yuma, Mohave, and Pima of the South- 
west, the Iroquois and most Algonkin of the Woodland 
Area, As to head form, the moderately long head of 
the Plains does not hold for the Osage and Wichita of 
the south and the Nez Perce of the northwest, but 
extends over into the Plateau area on the west and into 
the Woodland area of the east. Hence, in a general 
way, the tall, somewhat long-headed tribes seem to 
extend eastward into the Woodlands through Indiana, 
Ohio, and New York. Possibly this represents the 
influence of some older parent group whose blood 
gradually worked its way along through many lan- 
guages and several varieties of culture. On the other 
hand, the shorter, less long-headed tribes were massed 
around the Plains in the Southwest, the Plateaus, and 
part of the Woodlands almost engulfing the taller 
group. Now, while it seems clear that migrations of 
blood are in evidence, there is, as yet, no satisfactory 
means of determining the point of origin and the 
direction of movement for these types. Turning from 
physical type to language, we have several large masses 
impinging upon the Plains and while it seems most 
likely that the parent speech for each stock arose 
somewhere outside the Plains, we are not yet clear as 
to the impossibility of their arising in the Plains and 
spreading to other cultures. It does not seem probable 
that all of them would arise within this small area, but, 
on the other hand, it is impossible to give satisfactory 
proof for any particular tribe. Thus, language gives 
us but a presumption in favor of migrations into the 



140 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Plains of the Siouan, Caddoan, and Shoshonean speak- 
ing tribes. It is true that many tribes have migration 
legends some of which are consistent with a few details 
of culture; but as these nearly always take the forms 
of other myths, they cannot be given much historical 
weight. The plain fact is that the moment we get 
beyond the period of exploration in the Plains, historical 
data fail us. We know where the tribes were when 
discovered and most of their movements since that 
date, but beyond that we must proceed by inference 
and the interpretation of anthropological data. 

Not being able to discover how the various tribes 
came to be in the Plains, we can scarcely expect to tell 
how long they have been there. The archaeological 
method may be brought into play here; but as yet we 
lack data. Mounds and earthworks have been dis- 
covered in the Dakotas and southward along the Mis- 
souri, apparently the fringe of the great mound area 
in the Woodlands to the east. In the open Plains, we 
have so far neither evidence of long occupation nor 
of states of culture differing from those we have just 
described. This is, however, by no means a final 
statement of the case for future archaeological research 
will doubtless clear up this point. 

Turning back to culture, we find that so many of the 
traits enumerated in these pages are almost entirely 
peculiar to the area that we are constrained to conclude 
that they developed within it. This is strengthened 
by the peculiar adaptation of many of these traits to 
the geographical conditions, suggesting that they were 
invented or discovered by a Plains people. It seems, 



ORIGINS. 



141 



therefore, that while the origin of the blood and lan- 
guages of the Plains cannot be determined, its cultural 
problem is in a fair way to be solved. Among the most 
distinctive traits are the sun dance, a camp circle band 
system, the soldier societies, highly developed ritualistic 
bundles, a peculiar geometric decorative art, the use of 
the horse and travois, the skin-covered tipi, the earth 
lodge, and economic dependence upon the buffalo. 
Some of these are absolutely confined to the area and 
though others are found elsewhere they occur as second- 
ary rather than as primary traits. We may safely 
conclude, therefore, that the tribes of the Plains at 
least developed these traits to their present form, if 
they did not actually invent them. 

Perhaps the most interesting phase of Plains an- 
thropology is the general diffusion of traits among the 
many political and linguistic units found therein. 
Miss Semple favors the theory that a Plains region is 
the most favorable environment for the diffusion of 
cultural traits. Whatever may be the fate of this 
hypothesis, it is clear that among the Indians of the 
Plains there has been sufficient diffusion to carry many 
traits over the greater part of the area. That diffusion 
rather than independent development or convergent 
evolution is the most satisfactory explanation of this 
ease, may be seen from noting that the various tribes 
were acquainted with many of their neighbors, that in 
the sign language they had a ready means of inter- 
communication and that since their discovery the actual 
diffusion of several traits has been observed by anthro- 
pologists. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



The following is not offered as a complete bibliog- 
raphy of the subject but as a list of books likely to 
meet the needs of the general reader. For a mere view 
of Indian life on the Plains, the books of Catlin, Grin- 
nell, Maximilian, and McClintock are recommended. 

Annual Reports, Bureau of American Ethnology, 3rd, 11th, 13th, 14th, 

17th, 22nd, 27th. 
Anthropological Papers, American Museum of Natural History, Vols. 

I, 2, 4, 5, and 7. 

Anthropological Series, Field Museum of Natural History, Vols. 4 and 9. 

Bulletin, American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 18. 

Catlin, George. Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Conditions 

of the North American Indians. London, 

1848. 

Clark, W. P. The Indian Sign Language. Philadelphia, 1885. 
Farrand, Livingston. Basis of American History, 1500-1900. The 

American Nation: a History, Vol. 2. New 

York, 1904. 

Grinnell, George Bird. Blackfoot Lodge Tales. New York, 1904. 

Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales, New 

York, 1893. 
The Story of the Indian. New York, 1904. 
Handbook of American Indians. Washington, 1907, 1910. 
Henry and Thompson. New Light on the Early History of the Great 
Northwest. Edited by Elliott Coues. New 
York, 1897. 

Lewis and Clark. Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedi- 
tion. (Thwaites Edition). New York, 
1904. 



143 



144 



INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



Lewis and Clark. History of the Expedition under the command of 
Captains Lewis and Clark to the Sources of 
the Missouri, across the Rocky Mountains, 
down the Columbia River to the Pacific in 
1804r-6. Three volumes. New York, 1902. 

Mason, Otis T. The Origins of Inventions: a Study of Industry among 
Primitive Peoples. London, 1895. 

Maximilian, Prince of Wied. Travels in the Interior of North America. 

Translated by H. Evans Lloyd. London, 
1843. 

McClintock, Walter. The Old North Trail. London, 1910. 

Mooney, James. The Cheyenne Indians. (Memoirs, American 
Anthropological Association, Vol. 1, Part 6, 
pp. 357-642. Lancaster, Pa., 1907.) 

Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard Unviersity. Vol. 3, No. 4. 

Perrot, Nicolas. The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley 
and Region of the Great Lakes. Translated, 
edited, annotated, and with bibliography and 
index by Emma Helen Blair. Two volumes. 
Cleveland, 1911. 



INDEX. 



Adolescence, special ceremonies for, 
87. 

Age-societies, 92. 

Agriculture, 16, 28-29; implements 

used in, 76. 
Algonkin language, 128, 129. 
Altars, 118. 
Amulets, 105. 
Animal tales, 99-100. 
Armor, 77. 

Art, decorative and religious, 120- 
126. 

Arrows, poisoned, 78. 
Athapascan language, 128-129. 
Awls, 60. 
Axes, 74. 

Backrests, 52. 
Bags, 63-69. 

Bands, 84; in the camp circle, 86. 

Basketry, 52, 69. 

Beaming tools, 58, 59. 

Blankets, of rabbitskins, 41, 52. 

Bodkins, 60. 

Bowdrill, 52. 

Bowls, of wood, 72. 

Bows, 23-25. 

Breech cloth, 41. 

Buffalo, calf pipe, 105; ceremony 
for calling the, 79, 109; distri- 
bution of, 14; hunting, 21-23. 

Bull-boat, 31, 35. 

Burial, methods of, 88. 

Caddoan language, 128. 
Calumet, 107. 



Camp circle, 85, 86, 91. 
Catlin, paintings, 3, 34. 
Ceremonies, religious, origin of, 

103; tribal, 109-118. 
Ceremonial procedure, 118-119. 
Charms, received in visions, 103. 
Children, care and rearing of, 87; 

growth of, 137. 
Clans, 84. 

Clubs, stone-headed, 26, 60. 
Combs, 50. 

Cooking, methods of, 71. 
Costumed figure, of a Dakota 

woman, 47. 
Coup, counting of, 95-96, 112. 
Cree dance, 117. 
Cradles, 87. 
Cruppers, 34. 

Culture, areas, 11; diffusion of, 
116, 141; heroes, mythical, 98- 
99. 

Cultural characteristics, 16, 95, 140. 

Dancing, associations, 116-117; at 

sun pole, 112. 
Death, 88. 

Decorations, on robes, 41. 
Deluge myth, 97. 

Designs, on moccasins, 120-123; 

on woman's robe, 124. 
Digging stick, 75-76; in sun dance 

bundle, 110. 
Doctors, 87-88. 

Dog, as a pack animal, 33; society, 

90, 91. 
Dress, 41-50. 



146 



INDEX. 



Earrings, 50. 
Earth lodges, 36-39. 
Earthworks, 140. 

Facial characteristics, 136-137. 
Feathers, worn in the hair, 50. 
Fire-making, 51. 
Fleshing tools, 57, 58, 59. 
Food, 19-21; boiling in a skin, 69- 
71. 

Forests, distribution of, 13. 
Four movements, 118. 

Games, 78-80. 
Gentes, 84. 

Geometric art, 125-126. 
Ghost dance, 79; ceremonies, 113- 
115. 

Government, 88-89. 
Grass lodge, 41. 
Green corn dance, 109. 

Hair, manner of dressing, 49. 
Hand game, 80. 

Headdress, 49-50; for sun dance, 
111. 

Head form, of Plains Indians, 139. 
Headgear, 46. 
Head men, of a band, 88. 
Heraldry, 96, 125. 
Horned serpent, 100. 
Horse, introduction of, 20. 
Hunting, 19, 20; implements used 
in, 23-26. 

Individual medicines, 105. 
Industrial arts, 51-81. 
Implements, of copper, 75; for 
hunting, 23-26. 

Knives, 72, 73; bone, 74, 75. 
Kissing dance, 117. 
Kiowan language, 128. 



Lance, 25, 26. 
Language, 127-131, 139. 
Leggings, 44. 

Linguistic stock, denned, 129. 
Lodges, types of, 40. 

Mad (or foolish) society, 91. 
Maize, cultivation of, 28. 
Marriage, 86-87. 
Masks, use of in ceremonies, 119. 
Material culture, 19-81. 
Mauls, stone, 60, 74. 
Medicine arrows, 105. 
Medicine bundles, 105-109; trans- 
fer of, 107. 
Medicine-pipe, 76, 104, 107. 
Migration legends, 100. 
Mittens, 46. 

Moccasins, designs on, 120, 121-123; 

types of, 42-44. 
Mounds, 140. 

Musical instruments, in ceremonies, 

119. . 
Mythology, 97-100. 

Names, manner of giving, 87. 
Navel cord, preservation of, 87. 
Night chants, 109. 

Omaha dance, 115, 116-117. 
Okipa, 113; drums, 105. 
Origins, 138-141. 

Paint bags, 67-68. 
Painting, of the body, 50; for cere- 
monies, 119; on parfleche, 121. 
Parfleche, 61-62. 
Pemmicari, 26-28, 62. 
Peyote worship, 115-116. 
Physical type, 132-137. 
Pictographic art, 126. 
Picture writing, 96. 



1 0. 5 



INDEX. 



147 



Pipe bags, 65. 

Pipes, 76; use in ceremonies, 119. 
Plains Indian Hall, plan of, 3. 
Plains tribes, political divisions of, 

83; range of, 18; typical, 17, 

18, 29. 
Plateau tribes, 17. 
Polygamy, 86-87. 
Pottery, 69. 

Pounders, stone-headed, 27. 

Quill embroidery, 121. 
Quirts, 34. 

Rack, for drying meat, 26. 
Rawhide, use of, 34, 60. 
Regalia, used by various societies, 
93. 

Religious concepts, 100-102. 

Riding gear, 34. 

Robes, made of skins, 41. 

Saddle bags, 68. 
Saddles, 34, 60. 
Sand paintings, 118. 
Scalp dance, 117. 

Scrapers, for dressing skins, 56, 57, 
74. 

Sewing, 60. 

Shahaptian language, 128. 
Shelter, 35-41; for sun dance, 113. 
Shield, of buffalo hide, 77, 78. 
Shirts, scalp, 44-46. 
Shoshonean language, 128. 
Sign language, 130-131, 141. 
Siouan language, 128. 
Skin dressing, 52-59. 
Sled, use of, 33. 

Social, distinction, 95-96; organiza- 
tion, 82-96. 
Societies, 89-95; origins of, 91-92. 
Soldier bands, 89-91. 



Soldiers, 16, 86. 
Soldier societies, 91, 92. 
Songs, 102, 117, 118. 
Spoons, of buffalo horn, 71-72. 
Stature, of Plains Indians, 135-136; 

138. 
Stirrups, 34. 

Stones, used in boiling food, 69-71. 

Strike-a-light pouch, 66, 67. 

Sun dance, 16, 79, 103, 108, 109- 

113; bundle, 75. 
Sun pole, 112. 
Sunwise movements, 118. 
Supernatural helper, 102-103. 
Sweat house, 118. 
Symbolism, in art, 122-125. 

Taboos, 102. 

Tailoring, 59-60. 

Taimay image, 105. 

Textiles, 52. 

Thunder bird, 100. 

Tipi, construction of, 35-36. 

Tobacco, ceremonies for planting, 

109; cultivation of, 29, 77. 
Tools, primitive, 74. 
Torture, in sun dance, 112. 
Transportation, 29-34. 
Travois, 30, 31-33, 34. 

Vegetable foods, 19, 29. 
Village tribes, 17. 
Visions, 102, 103. 

War, 77; bundles, 105, 107; dance, 
117; deeds, 94, 95-96, 121; 
record, 94-95. 

Weapons, 77-78. 

Weaving, 52. 

Women's clothing, 46-48. 

Women's societies, 93-95. 




0 029 819 400 4 



